A Sport of Nature - by Nadine Gordimer (Paperback)

About the Book

After being abandoned by her mother, Hillela was pushed onto relatives where she was taught social graces. But when she betrayed her position as surrogate daughter, she was cast adrift. Later she fell into a heroic role in the overthrow of apartheid.

Book Synopsis

"A moving, powerful book that, in a career rich with distinguished works, could well be considered her masterpiece."--Publishers Weekly

Hillela is Nadine Gordimer's "sport of nature" a spontaneous mutation, a new type of untainted person, she is seductive and intuitively gifted for life. A Sport of Nature is the bold, sweeping story of her rise from obscurity to an unpredictable kind of political power.

Abandoned by her mother, Hillela is left to be raised by her two aunts in South Africa. At Olga's she might have acquired a taste for antiques and a style of dress to please a suitable husband. At Pauline's she might have developed a social conscience. But Hillela's betrayal of her position as a surrogate daughter so shocks both families that at seventeen she is cast adrift.

Swiftly and perilously, her life opens out. She lives as a footloose girl among political exiles on a beach in East Africa, drifting between jobs and lovers, and finally becomes the wife of a black revolutionary. Personal tragedy is ultimately the catalyst for her political development, leading her into a heroic role in the overthrow of apartheid.

This is the largest, most reverberant work of fiction we have had yet from one of the world's master novelists.

About the Author

Nadine Gordimer (1923-2014) Born in Springs, South Africa, she was the author of fourteen novels, including A Guest of Honour, The Conservationist, Burger's Daughter, July's People, A Sport of Nature, My Son's Story and None to Accompany Me. Her short fictio was published in eleven collections including Jump, and Why Haven't You Written: Selected Stories 1950-1972. Her nonfiction includes The Essential Gesture; On the Mines; The Black Interpreters. She received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991, recognized as a writer "who through her magnificent epic writing has ... been of very great benefit to humanity".