Author:Robert Graves
Edward Venn-Thomas lives in the twentieth century but has been mysteriously transported to the future, and the apparently idyllic society of New Create, where there is no hunger, no war and no dissatisfaction. However Venn-Thomas is starting to find life among the New Cretans rather dull. He comes to realize that their perfect existence, inspired by the poets and magicians of their strange occultic religion, lacks one fundamental thing - evil. So Venn-Thomas sees it as nothing less than his duty to introduce them to the darker side of life. First published in 1949 and also known as Watch the North Wind Rise, Graves's novel is a thrilling blend of utopian fantasy, science fiction and mythology.
No one else offers his precise combination of eroticism, nightmare and epigram
—— GuardianPeter Carey, Garcia Marquez, Alexander Solzhenitsyn: André Brink must be considered with that class of writer
—— The GuardianOn the surface, On the Contrary is a picaresque historical novel... Underneath, of course, the novel is about today's South Africa and the dilemmas facing people challenging the status quo. Brink has written a novel which entertains first and only later assumes a political significance. To rake over the old embers with such skill and ingenuity represents a considerable acheivement
—— Sunday TelegraphInfernally beautiful
—— New StatesmanUnfailingly honest
—— Sunday Times