Ruben Olivier leads an isolated existence in a Cape Town suburb. His wife has died, one of his sons has settled in Australia, and the other wants to emigrate to Canada. The only constants in Ruben's life are the old family home, the ghost of a seventeenth-century slave girl who haunts it, and Magrieta, the elderly housekeeper who comes in to look after him. When Ruben's neighbor and best friend is brutally murdered by marauding gangs, the subtle yet pervasive threat of violence hovering over life in Cape Town becomes frighteningly real.All agree that taking in a boarder might be a good idea, and Ruben is pleasantly surprised when young Tessa Butler walks in out of the rain one Saturday night. She restores passion and intrigue to his life, but he has little time to enjoy the infatuation, for soon Ruben finds himself in a web of deceptions, manipulations, disappearances, and lies.This extraordinary novel is at once a rich story of enigmatic characters and a boldly disquieting meditation on the attempt to build a future of hope and promise from the legacy of the past.From BooklistThe eminent South African author Brink writes about an elderly white Cape Town intellectual, Ruben, who has a crush on a young woman, Tessa, who is a boarder in Ruben's historic family house, which is also home to the ghost of a slave woman, Antje, who lived there more than 300 years ago. The ghost communicates with all of the people in the house, but especially with the elderly housekeeper, Magrieta, who brings the violence and terror of her township experience into Ruben's sheltered life. He's a librarian (or was, until he was retired early), and he weaves quotes and meditations from everywhere into his obsession for freewheeling Tessa. His ruminations about his "desire" get tedious, but his love is passionate and tender as he plays the roles of father, friend, teacher, student, and would-be lover with Tessa. Best of all, there's a real plot here, with secrets of love, guilt, and betrayal that reveal the power as well as the suffering of women with no voice.Hazel RochmanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reservedReview"delivers with a wallop on all levels...a grabber that pricks the conscience and challenges old notions of social justice." --Betsy Kline, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 27, 2001PRAISE FOR DEVIL'S VALLEY"A disquieting novel from South Africa rich in myth, magic and horror."-The Baltimore Sun"Colorful, idiosyncratic characters, larger than life, populate the pages and stay with one long after the book is closed."-The Seattle Times --ReviewAbout the AuthorAndré Brink was born in Vrede, Free State, South Africa, in 1935. Brink is a three-time recipient of South Africa's CNA Award, and he has been short-listed twice for the Booker Prize. He is a professor of English at the University of Cape Town.André Brink was born in Vrede, Free State, South Africa, in 1935. Brink is a three-time recipient of South Africa's CNA Award, and he has been short-listed twice for the Booker Prize. He is a professor of English at the University of Cape Town.