The basis for the film of the same name that won the Academy Award in 2006 for Best Foreign Language Film, Tsotsi is the story of an angry young gang leader in the South African township of Sophiatown. A man without a past, he exists only to kill and steal. But one night, in a moonlit grove of bluegum trees, a woman he attempts to rape forces a shoebox into his arms. The box contains a baby, and Tsotsi's life is inexorably changed. He begins to remember his childhood, to rediscover himself and his capacity for love.
"In lean yet lyrical prose ... [Athol] Fugard uncannily insinuates himself into the skins of the oppressed majority and articulates its rage and misery and hope."—NYTBR
