Recently launched at Ike’s Bookshop in
Durban is The First Law of Sadness, ex-Durbanite
Nick Mulgrew's new collection of short stories.
Connected by more than their exquisite
prose, multi award-winning Mulgrew’s new stories delve into a world of killer
eagles, tattoo removal parlours, hardcore punk guitarists-cum-auditors, turtle
sanctuaries, plane crashes, amateur pornographers and biltong-makers – a world
concurrently too strange and too familiar for comfort.
A collection of startling imagination and
sympathy – set primarily in South Africa’s least fashionable cities and suburbs
– these stories maintain a precarious balance between rich comedy and despair
throughout their explorations of grief, spectacle, sex, nostalgia, and the
lives of animals, both human and not.
With audaciousness met by trademark
spiritual undercurrents and poetic flourish, The First Law of Sadness is confirmation of Mulgrew’s status as one
of South Africa’s best contemporary exponents of short fiction.
The book is produced by David Philip
Publishers and available at Adams Books in Durban.
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