July's People was written in South Africa in 1981 by Nadine Gordimer It takes place in the near future, when after a civil war in South Africa, apartheid is ended. With all the major cities engulfed in war, the liberal Smales family escapes Johannesburg to the village of their servant, July. What follows is a series of events that sees the Smales family decidedly out of their comfort zone. While before the riots, they traveled the world in luxury accommodations, they now must bathe in the river, sleep in huts and forage for food.
Nadine Gordimer herself came from a wealthy, liberal family from South Africa, and you can tell that she puts a lot of herself in the novel. While there isn't one great story, the book is more made up of scenes, much like the "Slice of Life" manga popular in Japan, but taking place in a fictional, war-torn South Africa. It's a short book, and I'm sure I missed a lot. Instead of re-reading it, I picked up The Conservationist, the 1974 novel that won Gordimer the Booker Prize. She was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1991.
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