Hoerkind: Die Memoires van ’n Randeier

Ostensibly the story of Herman Lategan’s life as an illegitimate child and troubled adult, growing up, surviving and ultimately thriving in pre-and post-apartheid South Africa, Hoerkind is also the biography of a city. The carnivalesque trauma of Lategan’s youth and the vicissitudes of his adulthood are mirrored in the fractured historical evolution of Cape Town. The book presents both in a way that is loving and forgiving, but without losing sight of some hard and familiar realities. Fun to read, emotionally complex, and deeply satisfying, Hoerkind is more than just the story of a life. It’s also a paean to possible futures.