Tatamkhulu Afrika was born in Egypt in 1920 of an Arab father and a Turkish mother. He was brought to South Africa in 1923, orphaned and raised by Christian foster parents. He served in World War II in the North African Campaign, and was a POW for three years in Italy and Germany. At the age of 17 he published a novel in Great Britain entitled BROKEN EARTH, but did not write again for 50 years. BITTER EDEN was first published when he was 80 years old.

He died in December 2002.

Books by Tatamkhulu Afrika

Bitter Eden

by Tatamkhulu Afrika - Fiction, Historical Fiction

BITTER EDEN is based on Tatamkhulu Afrika’s own capture in North Africa and his experiences as a prisoner of war during World War II in Italy and Germany. The novel deals with three men who must negotiate the emotions that are brought to the surface by the physical closeness of survival in the male-only camps. The complex rituals of camp life and the strange loyalties and deep bonds among the men are heartbreakingly depicted.