The_Lost_Colours_of_The_Chameleon
2010 Longlist

The Lost Colours of the Chameleon

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ABOUT
THE BOOK

The Lost Colours of the Chameleon is set on the fictitious island of Bangula in the Indian Ocean – an island populated by an indigenous community that coexists uneasily with Creoles, mainly descendants of ancient Portuguese colonizers. The half-a-million inhabitants live under the twin shadows of an impending cyclone and an outbreak of the blood plague. The novel follows the story of the Colonel Gondo, a patriarch who is the father of the newly reformed nation of Bangula, and the biological father of three sons (one legitimate and two illegitimate). Following their father’s death, the Colonel’s three sons become embroiled in a bitter succession struggle. Abioseh succeeds the Colonel, but has to contend with the Colonel’s love-child, a boy called Zebulon. Zebulon grows up embittered and poverty-stricken, with an aim of avenging his mother, Madu, who died of official neglect. Zebulon, Abioseh’s half-brother, is popular among the people for the simple reason that he has made it his life’s mission to comfort the bereaved, even strangers. Abioseh also has to contend with the Colonel’s third son, Hieronymus Jerome, his childhood friend, who rises in the police ranks and becomes his head of security. However, Hieronymus also has ambitions of power – not so much to wield it conspicuously as to control the wielders of power, an eminence grise – who liaises with an undertaker to topple Abioseh and install Zebulon as leader of the island. This struggle for power is fuelled by the varying and personal motives of the Colonel’s three sons, and reveals the fundamental divisions tearing apart the fragile nation.

ABOUT
THE AUTHOR Mandla
Langa

Mandla Langa was born in Durban, grew up in KwaMashu township, and studied for a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Fort Hare. He won the Drum story contest for The Dead Men Who Lost Their Bones and was awarded the Arts Council of Great Britain Bursary for creative writing, the first for a South African. Langa’s published works include Tenderness of Blood, A Rainbow on a Paper Sky, The Naked Song and Other Stories, The Memory of Stones and the award-winning The Lost Colours of the Chameleon.

Mandla Langa was born in Durban, grew up in KwaMashu township, and studied for a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Fort Hare. He won the Drum story contest for The Dead Men Who Lost Their Bones and was awarded the Arts Council of Great Britain Bursary for creative writing, the first for a South African. Langa’s published works include Tenderness of Blood, A Rainbow on a Paper Sky, The Naked Song and Other Stories, The Memory of Stones and the award-winning The Lost Colours of the Chameleon.

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NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS

It takes a provocative look at power and discontent in post-colonial Africa.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Country
South Africa
Original Language
English
Author
Publisher
Picador Africa

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