Evening Primrose

Kopano Matlwa

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A powerful and timely novel from 'South Africa's Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie' (Bookseller) .

'Heart-wrenching' Grazia .

With urgency and tenderness Evening Primrose explores issues of race, gender and the medical profession through the eyes of a junior doctor.

When Masechaba finally achieves her childhood dream of becoming a doctor, her ambition is tested as she faces the stark reality of South Africa's public healthcare system.

As she leaves her deeply religious mother and makes friends with the politically-minded Nyasha, Masechaba's eyes are opened to the rising xenophobic tension that carries echoes of apartheid.

Battling her inner demons, she must decide if she should take a stand to help her best friend, even it comes at a high personal cost.

'The best kind of political novel, its turns of emotion are virtuosic. Matlwa's voice is one we need.' Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, author of Harmless Like You

'Slices straight to the heart, deft and clean' Laura Jane Williams, author of Becoming

'A daring and uniquely South African story' Marie Claire, South Africa on Coconut

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Praise for Evening Primrose

  • 'Matlwa is South Africa's Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.' - Rosie Rowell, The BooksellerIt's a daring and uniquely South African story. - Marie Claire, South Africa on COCONUTMatlwa is obviously a talent to be reckoned with . . . This is sassy, in-your-face, intelligent writing. - The Witness, South Africa, on COCONUTOne of the most culturally relevant reads of the year - City Press, South Africa, on COCONUT

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Kopano Matlwa

Kopano Matlwa

Kopano Matlwa Mabaso is a South African author whose bestselling first novel, Coconut , written when she was 21 years old, went on to in the European Union Literary Award and was joint winner of the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa. Her second novel, Spilt Milk made the long list for the 2011 Sunday Times Fiction Prize. Matlwa is also winner of Aspen Ideas Award for medical innovation and is currently reading for a DPhil in Population Health at the University of Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar. Her third novel Evening Primrose will be published by Sceptre in 2017. @kopanomabaso

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