Blessed Are the Dead: Book summary and reviews of Blessed Are the Dead by Malla Nunn

Blessed Are the Dead Summary

Emmanuel Cooper's life is finally back on track when a request comes from Colonel van Niekerk that he report to the local police station in Balgowan, a small trading post in the Natal Midlands. When Cooper arrives, he learns of the disappearance of an adolescent Zulu girl in the wild foothills of the Drakensberg - and the local police are reluctant to search for her.

Sensing that something terrible has happened out on Little Flint Farm, Cooper plunges into the class driven life of transplanted English aristocrats and the traditional world of the old Zulu chiefs. He must break the silence of the opposing communities and dig through their buried secrets to find out what happened to the girl, and why… no matter the cost.

Paperback original

Blessed Are the Dead Reviews

"Starred Review. Gripping and thoughtful... Nunn brilliantly combines character and fair play clues." - Publishers Weekly

"A disturbing book with a morally compelling hero." - Booklist

"Historical hindsight may make readers a bit more self-congratulatory about recognizing the evils of apartheid, but it won't help them see around the curves Nunn has plotted or rise above her insight into the enduring dilemmas of her separate-and-unequal world." - Kirkus Reviews

"An engrossing and compelling read... saturated with the feel of 1950s South Africa." - Mike Nicol, author of the Revenge trilogy

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Malla Nunn Author Biography

Malla was born in Swaziland in Southern Africa. She attended Florence Christian Academy, a "mixed race" boarding school. In the 1970s she migrated with her family to Western Australia, where she graduated from the University of Western Australia with a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in English and History.

Malla next moved to the US, where she met her future husband before moving back to Australia and wrote and directed short films and corporate videos. Her films have won numerous awards and have been shown at international festivals. She currently lives in Sydney with her husband and their two children.

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