A description of the events surrounding the first democratic elections in South Africa. The author, a South African novelist and journalist, looks at the real lives that were touched by the major political and social events. Beginning with the first day of voting, glancing back to the violence at the end of 1993 and forward to the inauguration of President Mandela and beyond, the book then addresses the moral issues raised by these events: is it desirable, or possible, to forgive and forget?