The Love Songs of Nathan J. Swirsky

To a time-locked Johannesburg suburb comes Nathan J. Swirsky to open his pharmacy. With his stories of exotic places and his gleaming bottles and jars, the local children think of him as a magician. But the adults smell trouble. 'A jewel box of a novel... exquisite.' Observer

To a time-locked Johannesburg suburb comes Nathan J. Swirsky to open his pharmacy. With his stories of exotic places and his gleaming bottles and jars, the local children think of him as a magician. But the adults smell trouble.

'A jewel box of a novel... exquisite.' Observer

It is the early fifties in Badminton, Johannesburg, where all the street-names recall British kings and queens and where retired soldiers relive the desert war in their dusty gardens. This small-town dreamscape erupts with the arrival of Nathan J. Swirsky, a pink volcano with an extravagant moustache; a magical pharmacist who speaks of exotic travels to faraway, forbidden places. In alarm and delight, the children of Badminton observe his unlikely resurrectio