The Persistence of Memory
by Tony Eprile

• San Francisco Public Library, USA

Publisher of Nominated Edition
W.W. Norton ISBN 0393058883

The Persistence of Memory fuses a searing political and cultural satire with a haunting coming-of-age story to render South Africa's turbulent past with striking clarity.

The precocious Paul Sweetbread, cursed with a perfect memory, is born into the civilized Jewish world of Johannesburg in the twilight of apartheid, becomes a veteran of the secret war in Angola and Namibia, and is eventually forced to appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, with astonishing results.

Tony Eprile is the author of Temporary Sojourner & Other South African Stories, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. He grew up in South Africa and has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Ingram Merrill Foundation. He lives in Bennington, Vermont.