Once again Robert Dewar has profoundly moved me with this elegantly written novel set in South Africa, Angola and Rhodesia, in the final decades of the last century. It is an atmospheric bildungsroman in which Blaise Cressingham - the titular character - from a wealthy, white, middle-class family, finds God and follows his faith to help amongst the poorest families in a sprawling black township. He faces death more than once, from Cuban mercenaries, and guerilla fighters, and very nearly becomes a Christian martyr.
Here is a writer who understands life, and the workings of love and belief, and creates a poignant emotional truth, set against the real historical backdrop of a country torn apart by disgraceful racial laws, and a continent struggling to find peace and freedom in an age after colonialism. There are shocking scenes of brutal savagery but also heartlifting miracles in a story full of courageous acts of hope.
This is a beautiful, devastating, brilliant book, by an author who continues to get better and better.