When Mpisi Mpisani travels to the rural place of his birth, Gaza
Village, for the burial of his mother and a visit to his first wife, he is
highly aware that he should hurry back to Johannesburg. His second
wife, waiting jealously in Soweto, will give birth any day now. Under
apartheid law he might even be refused the right to return to the city if
he stays away too long and loses his job. Giyani, his eight year old
son, accompanies him.

But when Giyani disappears without a trace, Mpisi stays to
search for him. Wracked with worry, he tries to ignore the villagers
who blame magical sources for the boy’s disappearance. Meanwhile
Mpisi’s city wife, Ntombazi, bears a boy with a birthmark that seems
to be a sign . . .

The thread of mystery runs throughout Paradise in Gaza,
weaved into an exploration of rural and city life at a time when
movement between these spheres was highly controlled. Another
exceptional novel by master storyteller Niq Mhlongo.