This is an auction for THE PICKUP by Nadine Gordimer.

“Gordimer crosses new borders in this contemporary novel that takes a post-apartheid young South African woman out to a widening world. Julie Summers knows that her father and his rich white friends can move about the globe as they please. Everyone in Julie's world, rich and poor, is an immigrant somehow. Ashamed of her background, she has left the suburbs to hang out with the hip multiracial crowd in the city; then one day she picks up an illegal Arab immigrant, "Abdu," who is working as an auto mechanic. They become lovers, and when he's deported, she insists on going back with him as his wife to his poor desert village. He's desperate to leave again, and she finds herself shuffling along in lines for papers, just like the migrants under apartheid. Without romanticism, Gordimer dramatizes the paradox of privilege. Julie's confidence comes from the shelter she rejects. In contrast, her husband can barely allow himself to love her, sure that this is just another adventure for the suburban girl. His determination is a long way from the idealistic conversation that flows at Julie's cafe, where "indignation went back and forth across the cappuccino." It's the places that make the story so compelling, and Gordimer captures the contrasts in the beat of her prose, whether it's the frenzy of the city block, the sweep of the desert, or the lovers' intimacy and distance in their lean-to room. Even on the last page, Gordimer is still surprising us about the search for home.”

• a *** starred *** review in Booklist (US)

Very favourable reviews on Amazon.com.

Large format (trade) paperback 2001.

270 pages.

Very good condition.

The cost of shipping is $4.95 (ordinary post) or $5.95 (tracked mail). If you are on rural delivery and want tracked mail, the shipping cost will be $8.95.

There is of course no charge for shipping if you collect this book from my shop in Palmerston ?North following the auction.

Payment within seven days, please.