Although this novel by Athol Fugard was turned into a sublime Oscar-winning 2006 film of the same name, going back to the source pays off dividends with what is a truly wonderful book. Tsotsi is an angry young gang leader in the South African township of Sophiatown. A man without a past, he exists only to kill & steal. But one night, in a moonlit grove of bluegum trees, a woman he attempts to rape forces a shoebox into his arms. The box contains a baby, & his life is inexorably changed. He begins to remember his childhood, to rediscover himself & his capacity for love. Tsotsi`s raw power & rare humanity show how decency & compassion can survive against the odds.