The Elusive Moth

July 22, 2014
novel | pb | 198 pgs
5.5" x 8.5"
978-1-934824-77-1

“In her latest novel, Ingrid Winterbach is at her best: complex, funny, smart, mischievous, and without equal.” 
—Beeld

In hopes of winning her father’s approval, Karolina Ferreira, an entomologist, goes to a small Free State town to research the survival strategies of a rare moth species. Tormented by memories of her family and plagued by erotic dreams, Karolina spends her nights playing snooker, drinking whisky, and dancing herself into a state of euphoria with the mysterious Kolyn. 

As political, spiritual, and sexual tensions in the small town rise, a murder will take place, lovers will meet in the cemetery, and friendships will fall apart—all building to an eruption of violence.

Originally published in Afrikaans in 1994, The Elusive Moth won Ingrid Winterbach the prestigious M-Net Book Prize and the Old Mutual Literary Prize. Finally available to American readers, this novel reinforces Winterbach’s reputation as one of South Africa’s greatest contemporary writers. (Read an Excerpt)

Translated from the Afrikaans by Iris Gouws and the Author

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About the Author: Ingrid Winterbach is an artist and novelist whose work has won South Africa’s M-Net Prize, Old Mutual Literary Prize, the University of Johannesburg Prize for Creative Writing, and the W.A. Hofmeyr Prize. To Hell with Cronjé won the 2004 Hertzog Prize, an honor she shares with the novelists Breyten Breytenbach and Etienne Leroux.

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"This text is, in all meanings of the word, sublime." 
—Die Burger

"An exquisite book, an essential voice." 
—Antjie Krog