night lights
the fall of the black eyed night
using the fictive setting of the upmarket bay regal hotel in a very recognisable cape town this novel brings several lives together in dramatic and unusual combinations . through the main character shehzad shadhili son of an imam it expresses a sense of dislocation and shame that can be traced to two episodes in shehzads past in london at the time of the july 2005 islamist bombings in the city . shehzads return to cape town means having to engage with family and muslim mores as well as growing responsibility for a 17 year old german girl orphaned by the death of her father a resident at the hotel . inspired by the turn of events in the muslim community he implements a cunning idea for revenge and finds himself in a tangle of relationships and an unexpected outcome . this is an intriguing deeply thoughtful and surprisingly tender hearted novel a vibrant example of contemporary south african fiction .