Bleak and unremitting
—
If it were possible to write a character who doesn’t want for anything, then this is it. The book follows Daniel, an ex-pat South African, as he progresses through life: working but not seeming to enjoy it, connecting with others through sex, forced by a bequest to develop a friendship with a distant cousin, finally finding a love of a kind but being thwarted by happenstance. At no time in his narrative did I get a sense that he was a wanting, desiring human being, and the blank of his family life—his vituperative relationship with his sister and her acquiescence to the social contract; his strange interactions with his father, lost in dementia—offered no clues.

Told in five acts, like progressions within a symphony, this is a bleak and unremitting reminder of all that can fail in a human being. Disconnected, even from the appearance of death before him, yet able to maintain the fiction of a loving relationship until it inevitably falls apart, I felt that Daniel was a plausible human being, but not one that I had an interest in spending any time with.

Perhaps it was wrong book at the wrong time for me, but I couldn't get into this book at all and unfortunately had to DNF it. It would be one that I would consider trying again though, as the reviews for this book have been excellent.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and Europa Editions for this ARC!

“Fathers and Fugitives” by SJ Naudé tells us five stories from the life of our main character Daniel, following him over the course of several decades. Each story includes or centres themes of death.

I will admit, I find this book hard to describe. Overall it doesn't feel like a lot is happening, even though there are certainly many things going on; I guess this can be explained by the book’s very calm, even writing style. There is also Daniel, who I don’t think has a single strong emotion at any point of the book, no matter what happens. Don’t get me wrong though, I enjoyed this book. It wasn’t what I expected, but I felt absolutely absorbed by the often somewhat bizarre events and decisions made by Daniel. Every time I asked myself “Why the hell are you doing that?” and had to keep going, hoping to understand this man; I don’t think I ever did.

Overall I enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to lovers of literary fiction who enjoy extended character studies.

In *Fathers and Fugitives*, SJ Naudé crafts a powerful meditation on memory, estrangement, and the lingering shadows of apartheid. The novel follows Daniel, a South African expatriate journalist, who returns home to care for his dying father—only to uncover deeply buried family secrets that force him to confront his own fractured identity.
Naudé’s prose is lyrical and restrained, capturing emotional distance with precision. Through a fragmented narrative spanning continents and generations, the novel examines the burden of history, the complexities of whiteness, and the search for belonging.
Both intimate and politically resonant, Fathers and Fugitives is a compelling and thought-provoking work that deepens the conversation around South African identity in a globalized world.

A difficult book to summarise… it’s consistently well written and I never stopped being intrigued by the direction of the story and the growth of the central character. But for such a short book it often felt aimless in a way that didn’t always feel like it added necessary context. I feel like I either wish it was longer to fill out some of these meandering trains of thought or shorter to trim some out. Ultimately the heart of the book is beautiful, if unsettling, a spectre hanging over the proceedings that leaves you sure of impending misfortune but always compelled to find out just how it manifests