Great reading that provides a sense of the city, from our online Ultimate Travel Library.
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Long Walk to Freedom, by Nelson Mandela (1994)
The Nobel Prize-winning statesman Nelson Mandela recounts his remarkable life; the first draft was written while he was detained on Robben Island.
Rights of Desire, by André Brink (2000)
Prolific South African author André Brink crafts a dark tale of incest, rape, and murder set in his hometown.
Mother to Mother, by Sindiwe Magona (1998)
The real life murder of Amy Biehl, a white American, in the Cape Flat provides the basis for this fictional imagining of how the mother of the killer views the event.
“Buckingham Palace”, District Six, by Richard Rive (1986)
Five homes located in the heart of the multicultural District Six area—before its destruction during apartheid—are the focus for this short, evocative novel.
Country of My Skull, by Antjie Krog (1998)
The respected poet and radio journalist Antjie Krog records the harrowing details of the postapartheid-era Truth and Reconciliation Commission as it performed its cathartic work.
The Number, by Jonny Steinberg (2004)
Dog-eat-dog world of Cape Town’s gangs and its brutal prison system are portrayed through the eyes of a former gang member.
Disgrace, by J. M. Coetzee (1999)
The second of J. M. Coetzee’s novels to bag a Booker Prize charts a Capetonian professor's disastrous move to the rural Eastern Cape after a scandalous affair with a student.
The Cardinals, by Bessie Head (1993)
Published after her death, this short novel draws on Bessie Head’s experiences as a young journalist and “colored” woman in Cape Town during the early 1960s.
Moss, by Mary Watson (2007)
Collection of short stories by a young Capetonian writer, including the Caine Award-winning tale Jungfrau—a child’s view of apartheid.
