Deafening Silence

Deafening silence is the translation of John Miles’s highly acclaimed Afrikaans novel, Kroniek uit die doofpot, which won the CNA Award in 1991 and the M-Net and Helgaard Steyn Awards in 1992.

It tells the story of a black policeman whose quest for justice led to disastrous consequences for him and his family in November 1987. Having gained access to a collection of documents on the case from the Lawyers for Human Rights, Miles built on the facts available at the time to create the character of Tumelo John Moleko, giving history a human shape.