The President

An "engrossing debut" ... "like the best political thrillers, it's suspenseful, propulsive, and infuriating at once. Readers will be rapt." - Publishers Weekly

When a salacious fictional story about the nation's president is published online, the ruling party and its supporters are enraged. As pressure grows for the story to be erased, its young, queer author flees into hiding, carrying with him an explosive secret - and plans for revenge.

The President is a partly inspired by the vicious real-life backlash to Brett Murray's painting, The Spear (which controversially depicted South Africa's then-president, Jacob Zuma). However, in "this engrossing debut," Publishers Weekly says "the action doesn't read like thinly disguised reporting. Instead, like the best political thrillers, it's suspenseful, propulsive, and infuriating at once. Readers will be rapt."

Set in South Africa in 2012, Xander Beattie's novel is painfully relevant to our contemporary moment globally, where - in too many places - powerful demagogues scapegoat the marginalised, imperil human rights and brutally suppress artistic expression.