An immensely generous novel, vivid and adroit in its use of history

Peter Carey, Garcia Marquez, Alexander Solzhenitsyn: André Brink must be considered with that class of writer

On 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

Infernally beautiful

Unfailingly honest

Andric possess the rare gift in a historical novelist of creating a period-piece, full of local colour, and at the same time characters who might have been living today

Just as the bridge on the Drina brought East and West together so your work has acted as a link, combining the culture of your country with other parts of the planet