The Telling Of Angus Quain: A Novel

by Jenny Hobbs

The Telling of Angus Quain is a sharply observed novel of contemporary Johannesburg, featuring Angus Quain's rise from railwayman's son to executive glory and his unusual friendship with Faith Debermann, a lonely writer/historian who begins to realise that he is not who he seems … This is the compelling story of a brilliant but flawed man and his last, redeeming relationship with an independent younger woman: a story of our time, cast with people whose voices are all too familiar and set against the minefield of modern city living.

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Tiah]

- Serious writers don't drive convertibles. -

- 'What is the madam looking for, please?' I answered, 'I'm looking for history.'-

- Men have clubs and ol-boy networks. Women have - what Fragmented lives divided between their families and their work and their friendships, and if they're luck, a pragmatic shrink like Lauren to run to in emergencies. -

- I wanted to smack his self-satisfied face. Instead I did the next bes thing: picked up the friend doughnut and looking straight at him, took a large bite. He flinched. . . it wasn't foreplay. It was eco-torture. -

- His life was a cave labyrinth whose devious inner recesses no one would ever be allowed to plumb. Secrecy was as necessary to him as the air he breathed. -