Bitter Eden

November 18, 2013
For this posthumously published novel, South African writer Afrika, who died in 2002, drew on his own experiences as a prisoner of war during World War II to explore the sexual feelings that can develop among ostensibly straight POWs. The story is narrated by Tom Smith, a South African soldier captured by the German army in North Africa in 1941 and sent to various camps in Italy and Germany. At first, he is looked after by fellow prisoner Douglas Summerfield, who makes Tom’s welfare his top priority. Then Tom meets another POW, the English tank crewman Danny, who stirs Douglas’s jealousy. Tom and Danny become close, though they don’t become lovers, as the war’s end nears and their German guards develop itchy trigger fingers. Amid the deprivations of camp life, Tom passes the time by taking roles in amateur theatricals put on by Tony, an openly gay prisoner, who convinces him to play Lady Macbeth. Afrika has done an excellent job of foregrounding a theme that was only a subtext in previous POW novels like James Clavell’s King Rat and Laurens Van der Post’s Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence. This is a short novel that manages to encompass a great many emotions while plumbing the multiple contradictions of its title.

Starred review from February 1, 2014
First published in Britain in 2002, shortly before the author's death, Afrika's autobiographical novel of life in a World War II German POW camp is a nuanced psychological portrait of the bonds--platonic and sexual--men create for survival. In language that is pleasingly dense, filled with the starts and sideways glances of the narrator's mind, Tom Smith begins his story when he meets Douglas at a North African POW camp; the two Brits worked in Division Headquarters, and now, Douglas has latched on to Tom with the desperation of a stray pet. Though a loner, Tom allows the friendship: These partnerships are a necessity in the camps, where illness, starvation and violence can be repelled only with the help of a loyal mate. But Douglas irritates--he is maternal and fusses, and chatters and tidies, and though back in England Douglas is married, there is something of the wife about him that Tom cannot abide. The taboo of homosexuality--the accusations, the denials, the flaunting and acquiescing--is a primary concern of the novel, as gay and straight and all that lies in between struggle in close quarters and constant deprivation. After a harrowing sea journey to Italy (in which Douglas nurses a debilitated Tom), a society develops in the Italian camp. With Red Cross rations (including cigarettes), there are things to barter, so gamblers get rich in their gaming huts, Douglas and Tom run a laundry, openly gay Tony creates a theater that stages Shakespeare. Then arrives Danny, a rugged boxer whose masculinity reflects well on Tom, in a way that Douglas' possessive fussiness does not. Tom breaks with Douglas and becomes Danny's "mate," a word suffused with all the things needed to remember one's own humanity. When the prisoners are transferred to a camp in Germany (more brutal but better run), relations plunge into a final crucible. What begins as an unforgettable account of prisoners of war ends as something surprising: a love story.

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January 1, 2014

First published in Britain in 2002 (and written years earlier), this sole novel from Egyptian-born, South African-raised Afrika is based on his experiences in Italian and German prisoner-of-war camps in World War II. After receiving a letter from his dying camp mate Danny in England, the protagonist, Tom, a former South African soldier, recalls his difficult years as a prisoner. While dealing to some extent with living conditions in the camps, the novel's primary concern is with the relationships among the prisoners, particularly the sexual tension that arises among a group of men deprived of the company of women. The tension begins between Tom and Douglas, a British soldier who saves his life at the time of their capture, and later, with Danny, whom Tom meets in an Italian prison camp. VERDICT Afrika focuses on aspects of prison camp life that have been little explored. While the novel's theme of repressed desire might have had more power and perhaps a bit of shock value had it been published at the time it was written, it's still notable for its compelling depiction of an individual's struggle to maintain some measure of humanity and tenderness under the most inhuman of conditions.--Lawrence Rungren, Merrimack Valley Lib. Consortium, Andover, MA

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2013
As Bitter Eden opens, Sergeant Tom Smith and his fellow soldiers are being captured by the Italian army. What follows is a deeply personal narrative of Tom's experiences of life in a prison camp. Told entirely from his perspective, the novel focuses on the physical and emotional life of the captives. For Tom and his fellow inmates Douglas and Danny, squalor, boredom, pettiness, fear, and hunger fill their days. The extreme stress of internment coupled with living in very close quarters creates new and surprising relationships between the men, including an unexpected level of intimacy. The line separating friendship and sexual feelings becomes blurred, with confusing and often painful consequences. Afrika explores these relationships in depth, creating a remarkably honest and moving book. Originally published shortly after the author's death in 2002 and based on his experiences as a POW in WWII, Bitter Eden is a beautifully crafted, absorbing read, a careful examination of human relationships, and a rare glimpse into the complexities of life in wartime.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)