Daniel – a South African Chronicle

Despite being written mainly in the third person, this book enables the perceptive reader to study a dramatic part of South Africas history through the experiences of the main protagonist. Because of his legal background, Daniel is able to see how an initially fair legal system is corrupted in order to serve the increasingly desperate needs of the White minority. This is a mere backdrop, however, to a love story that grows closer to tragedy as time passes because the heroine is an alcoholic. The arrival of the computer alters the career of the hero dramatically and sends him on some overseas adventures to learn more about the legal implications of the new machine. As a leader of a missionary team to Malawi, Daniel also gets to grips with people with a totally different background and a differing worldview. The book is sensitive to background and atmosphere, and the hero encapsulates some of this in a few poems that form part of the main text. Jealousy, that green-eyed monster, also rears its head occasionally and further complicates relationships.