Fathers and Fugitives by S J Naude

A debut literary page-turner from a new South African voice about fatherhood and family, loyalty and betrayal, inheritance and belonging.
 
Daniel is a queer journalist living in London. His relationships appear to be sexually fulfilling but sentimentally meagre. He has no relationships outside of sexual ones, and can seem at once callow and, at times, cold to the point of cruel with his lovers.

Emotionally distant from his elderly father, Daniel returns to South Africa to care for him during his final months. Following his father’s death, Daniel learns of an unusual clause in the old man’s will: he will only inherit his half of his father’s estate once he has spent time with Theon, a cousin whom he hasn’t seen since they were boys, who lives on the old family farm in the Free State. Once there, Daniel discovers that the young son of the woman Theon lives with is seriously ill.  With the conditions bearing on Daniel’s inheritance shifting in real time, Theon and Daniel travel to Japan for an experimental cure and a voyage that will change their lives forever.
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"Cool and intelligent, unsettling and deeply felt, Naudé's voice is something new in South African writing." --Damon Galgut
'This outstanding novel packs an enormous punch for its size'  Sunday Times