Cape Fever

De: Nadia Davids

An exhilarating tale of twisted desire and the unexpected shape of revenge, for listeners of The Safekeep

‘I come highly recommended to Mrs Hattingh through sentences I tell her I cannot read.’

1920, a small, unnamed city in a colonial empire. Soraya Matas believes she has found the ideal job as a personal maid to the eccentric Mrs Hattingh, whose beautiful, decaying home is not far from the Muslim quarter where Soraya lives with her parents. As Soraya settles into her new role, she discovers that the house is alive with spirits.

While Mrs Hattingh eagerly awaits her son’s visit from London, she offers to help Soraya stay in touch with her fiancé Nour by writing him letters on her behalf. So begins a strange weekly meeting where Soraya dictates and Mrs. Hattingh writes – a ritual that binds the two women to one another and eventually threatens the sanity of both.


‘Slim, taut, haunting… an utterly beguiling read’ LUCY CALDWELL

‘The Cape Town that Nadia Davids summons up in her invaluable body of work is a riven, achingly sad place of shadows, quite unlike the comfortable, sleepy Mother City of the colonial imagination’ JM COETZEE

©2025 Nadia Davids (P)2025 Simon & Schuster UK

Reseñas de la Crítica

'An arresting, brooding novel set in the outpost of an empire nonimmune to the devastations of war.' - Leila Aboulela



'Davids’ work is a song, a hundred years in the past or a hundred years in the future, that will continue to vibrate. Timeless, enriching, and just beautiful, Cape Fever now has a place on my bookshelf among the greats.' - Cebo Campbell



'A slim, taut, haunting novel... a gorgeously evocative portrait of a time and place whose reverberations continue to rock our world today.' - Lucy Caldwell



'A brilliant exploration of power and the complex dance between servant and served. This is a novel that sparkles with intelligence and atmosphere—a masterful blend of social observation and gothic suspense that will stay with you long after the final page.' - Sarah Ladipo Manyika