An Enemy of the People

In the far reaches of the night, the alarm was sounding. Some force was holding him down. Where was Tejal? He felt with his arm. Her space was empty. Around him the atmosphere was thick. Somebody was rising from the bed, coughing out his lungs, shocked by the layers of tropical heat and darkness. The room was hot and full and invisible.

 

Mac fell on the floor and burned his hands on the carpet and he was suddenly awake. He pulled himself up, feeling the skin on his palms burning, made his way to the door. It opened in a flood of sparks.

 

In a year of arson and bankruptcy, Mackenjee, a tax collector, is following the tracks of stolen billions. His wife Tejal, a lawyer, is defending a young revolutionary accused of burning buses and toppling statues. The two cases begin to intersect.

 

Caught in a web of politicians and investigators, tax cheats, activists, philosophers, and even a baker, the couple reckon with their standing in the country, the promise of seaside life in changing Muizenberg, and the challenge of finding the right school for their children.