ABOUT THIS BOOK

Bafana Kuzwayo is a young man with a weight on his shoulders. After flunking his law studies at the University of Cape Town, he returns home to Soweto, where he must decide how to break the news to his family. But before he can confess, he is greeted as a hero by family and friends. His uncle calls him “Advo,” short for Advocate, and his mother wastes no time recruiting him to solve their legal problems. In a community that thrives on imagined realities, Bafana decides that it’s easiest to create a lie that allows him to put off the truth indefinitely. Soon he’s in business with Yomi, a Nigerian friend who promises to help him solve all his problems by purchasing a fake graduation document. One lie leads to another as Bafana navigates through a world that readers will find both funny and grim.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Niq Mhlongo is a prizewinning South African novelist, short story writer, travel journalist, essayist, editor, and educator who graduated from Wits University with a BA (African literature and political studies) in 1997. His creative writing includes five novels and three short story collections. His work has been translated into several languages, including French, Dutch, Flemish, German, Burmese, Spanish, and Italian.

REVIEWS

“A uniquely South African story, told in a fast, hip, and happening style that is synonymous with Soweto, where the author’s witty, dodgy, plain and simple characters play out their daily drama.”—Lucas Ledwaba, City Press

“Niq Mhlongo is one of the most high-spirited and irreverent new voices of South Africa’s postapartheid literary scene.”—Rachel Donadio, New York Times

TABLE OF CONTENTS

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

Twenty

Twenty-one

Twenty-two

Twenty-three

Twenty-four

Twenty-five

Twenty-six

Twenty-seven

Twenty-eight

Twenty-nine

Glossary

Acknowledgements