The Persistence of Memory fuses a searing political and cultural satire with a haunting coming-of-age story to render South Africa's turbulent past with striking clarity. Its hero, Paul Sweetbread, a young boy growing up in Johannesburg's northern suburbs in the twilight of apartheid, discovers that he is endowed with the poisoned gift of a perfect memory. Conscripted into the South African army, he becomes a veteran of the secret bush war on the border of Angola and Namibia, and is eventually forced to appear before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, with astonishing results. [Taken from back cover]