Struggles in medicine

A genuinely compelling novel that uses the conflict between a white doctor, firmly established in a rural hospital, and the idealism of a younger doctor, freshly arrived and determined to make a difference, to cast a thoughtful eye at the problems facing the new South Africa.

Through the eyes of the jaded narrator, Damon Galgut evokes a landscape made dangerous and strange by precipitous social changes, with the weight of history as emotional a burden for the individual as it is for the wider society.

Galgut's calm intelligence recalls JM Coetzee - both are interested in moral responsibility - but this eerie, fluently written novel truly deserves its place on the Booker shortlist on its own terms.