Umfaan's Heroes (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781483553238)

Jon Elkon was born and brought up in Apartheid South Africa. His parents were committed in a bourgeois way, to the struggle against Apartheid. His father Sam was a member of the Industrial Council, as well as being a self-made mattress millionaire and worked for the recognition of black trade unions. Mother Valerie, as a member of the Black Sash women's movement, protested against the injustices of the system by standing mutely in public places in a black sash, symbolising the death of democracy. The family lived in the constant fear (paranoia) of being watched, of the telephone being tapped, of persecution one can expect in a police state. Probably their fear was quite unjustified - neither Pa Elkon nor Ma Elkon ever posed a major threat to the system. Bridge and golf were much more important to them than political injustice anyway. Which stung the idealistic young Jon who didn't make his views secret. He was the victim of a swarm of rugger buggers at this boys' school, who saw him as an effeminate 'Kaffir lover" and made his life hell. At 16, he left King Edward VII School for a cram college in the centre of Johannesburg. Here he found his self-confidence, and met regularly with a group of like-minded adolescents with the joint project of undermining Apartheid and returning the country to sanity... At 20 he escaped. Arriving in the UK penniless and homeless, he spent time on the streets, sleeping in shop doorways and parks. He was eventually rescued by luck and the kindness of friends. These adventures and many others are the basis for his three novels, Umfaan's Heroes, Laszlo's Millions and Celine, the first two of which were published almost twenty years after the events they lie about. It took many years before he felt confident enough to submit a novel for publication. His first novel, was published by Andre Deutsch and received very well by the critics. The sequel sank into the Great Ocean into which second novels disappear. Umfaan's Heroes has now been re-issued by the Author in a new paperback edition which will be sold worldwide and will hopefully gain a new readership. And the exciting news is that the sequel has been fully remastered and rewritten - Elkon asserts it will "Redefine the comic novel" and will "rewrite London" - and will be released soon. Jon Elkon now teaches in an inner city school in London, writes occasionally prizewinning poetry and more novels (the Fifth Estate is now available on Kindle. Beta version.)