Finance and intrigue

WHAT a pleasure it is to read a well-written novel of South African life where politics provides a mere backdrop and is not the main theme.

This is Jenny Hobbs' third novel and readers who enjoyed Thoughts in a Makeshift Mortuary and The Sweet-Smelling Jasmine will find her latest a delight.

Set in modern day Johannesburg, it is at once a tribute to the city itself as well to as the main character, business executive par excellence, Angus Quain.

Our narrator is the rather prissy fortysomething Faith Dobermann, an academic who finds herself an unlikely friend of the high-powered King Quain. Their unlikely and always platonic friendship blossoms and the two enjoy weekly Saturday lunches at the "Johannesburg Club" -- a traditional city centre gentleman's club reeking of colonialism and hidden secrets.

It is here that Quain has made his home since his divorce many years ago, and the club and its eccentric inhabitants becomes in itself an enriching sub-strand of the novel.

The novel opens when Faith realises that her friend is terminally ill with cancer and it is his with his imminent death that the secrets of his life become to unravel.

Quain decides that she needs an introduction to Johannesburg society and so he drags the initially unwilling but increasingly fascinated woman along to a wide variety of events from dinners at the Sandton Sun to brothels in Jeppe.

Along the way Faith begins to realise that Quain's career, with its meteoric rise from obscurity to affluence, hides many secrets along the way, some sad, some shady, and she realises that there is a lot to learn behind the facade of confidence and manipulation that he presents.

But it is only when she decides to write his biography that the hidden sharks of Jo'burg's financial world begin to show their teeth and she realises that telling the truth can be a dangerous hobby.

The Telling of Angus Quain is an excellent read, especially for those who are interested in Johannesburg and its rather dubious business ethics.

The only carp I would have with it is the ending which rushes to a rather unconvincing conclusion, rather as if Hobbs has decided to wind things up to a time limit.

Otherwise a thoroughly enjoyable novel.