Bosman called this his "American" novel, intending it to be a tongue-in-cheek, epic-pioneer style book. Set in the Northern Transvaal either just before or just after the 1948 election which ushered in the apartheid regime, this is a book about small town intrigue which lifts the lid on the usual dorp pastimes of infidelity, immorality, drinking, dagga-smoking, blackmail and even murder. Full of satirical wisdom, this book deserves its place as one of the great classics of South African literature ( )