Bookshelf buy for September

The God Who Makes Mistakes by Ekow Duker  (Pan Mcmillan) is our choice must-read for September.

The author explains:

I have come to learn that I write best when I write for myself, with little regard for what the readers might say and without wringing my hands over looming deadlines. It was in that spirit that I wrote The God Who Made Mistakes. The title came to me perhaps half way through the first draft and it sounded just right. The novel by this time was shaping up to be the story of Themba Hlatshwayo, a married man struggling to come to terms with his sexuality.

 The possibilities of the story intrigued me and I had the privilege of speaking to a number of gay men who told me about the trajectory their lives had taken up until that point. I was struck by the similarities between them, although they were of different races and from different backgrounds. Their mothers, whether supportive or not of their sons’ choices, all had an inordinate impact upon their sons, which clearly persists until this day. All the men had, with some reluctance, turned their backs on the church and now found themselves missing the rituals and sense of belonging it afforded them. It would be more correct to say that it was the church that had turned its back on them and I’ve tried to reflect this through the eyes of my characters Pastor Michael and Prophet Makhubela, two men of the cloth who have brief but pivotal moments in the story.

 I was told of a night club in Alexandra where gay men socialised and picked up partners. I went there one night expecting to find a discreet and almost exclusive establishment and was surprised to find it packed to the nonexistent rafters, with patrons spilling out into the street. I was kindly invited to a black gay book club in Johannesburg that features in the story as Themba’s place of refuge. I heard whispered stories of married women who discovered too late that their husbands were gay, sometimes bursting in to catch them in the act. Unfortunately, my approaches to these women through third parties never resulted in actual meetings. Perhaps some wounds are still too raw. I left it to Ayanda, Themba’s wife, to voice her horror and confusion on their behalf.

The story takes place behind the closed doors of a suburban Johannesburg home, where Themba and Ayanda Hlatshwayo, both legal professionals, are beset by deep tensions that claw with relentless intensity at the polished facade of their lives. Ayanda seeks solace in dance classes, while Themba is increasingly drawn to the male companionship he finds at a book club.
With wit and sympathy, The God Who Made Mistakes explores the origins of Themba’s unease and confused sense of identity. It takes us back to a river bank in Alex, the township where he grew up, and to a boy he once knew who met a violent death there. As the story peels back the painful layers of recollection, Themba’s domineering mother, Differentia, has a major decision to make. When developers set their sights on buying the family home and building a supermarket in its place, tendrils of envy and greed begin to curl out of unexpected quarters, as the unscrupulous seek to grab a share of the spoils. Backyard tenant, Tinyiko, with her short skirts and questionable morality, and Themba’s disgraced, unemployed elder brother, Bongani, begin to plot and scheme, while across town Themba’s fragile marriage faces its biggest challenge. When his past walks unexpectedly into his present, it threatens to blow apart his carefully constructed world.
The God Who Made Mistakes is a powerful, poignant story of unexpressed longings which, when finally uttered, can no longer be contained.

About the author

Oil field engineer turned banker turned writer, Ekow Duker grew up in Ghana and studied in the UK, the US and France. He works in data analytics in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he lives with his partner, Bridget, and their two children, Nathan and Noemi. Ekow’s critically acclaimed first two novels, White Wahala and Dying in New York, were published in 2014. The God Who Made Mistakes is his third book.

‘It happens rarely, but now and again a writer comes along with a voice so original, so fresh that it reminds me what extraordinary writing talent we have on this continent. Ekow Duker is that writer and his entry onto the literary scene is cause for celebration. He is a nimble, clever and insightful storyteller, with a dark sense of the absurd. He shines his torch unrelentingly on an apparently normal society’s rather murky canvas and catches the reader in its powerful beam. With black humour and pathos, he makes us smile and wince as he lays the souls of his characters bare.’   – ALISON LOWRY, editor, publishing consultant and writer

To order: orders@booksite.co.za, fax: +27219505999

Price: R260 or

ePrice: R208.