Rian Malan is an Afrikaner, a member of the clan that produced Daniel Francois Malan, one of the master builders of apartheid, and General Magnus Malan, South Africa's Minister of Defence. Eight years later, he returned home to face his country, his tribe and his conscience, and to write My Traitor's Heart.
His family survived famine-ravaged Ireland in the 1850s. His ancestors settled in poverty-rife Victorian Liverpool, working to survive and thrive. Some of them became soldiers serving on the Western Front. One would be the last man to step off the SS Titanic as it sank beneath the icy waves. He would testify at the inquest. This is their story.
