The Madonna of Excelsior

Award-winning Zakes Mda’s The Madonna of Excelsior tells the shocking story of a family at the heart of the notorious 1971 case in which nineteen citizens of Excelsior in the Free State were charged with breaking apartheid’s Immorality Act, which forbade sex between black and white. In an extraordinary alchemy of words into art, Mda tells the story of a family at the heart of a scandal – of Niki, the fallen madonna, Popi, her daughter by an eminent white citizen of the town, and Viliki, the betrayed son, and of how they come to terms with the repercussions and find resolution in surprising ways. By turns earthy, witty, and tragic, this energetic novel deftly handles issues of racial identity, rape, and revenge. It is also a brilliantly observed study of the inner workings of small-town South Africa, and the changes rural communities have undergone.