In his writing, Cynan Jones showcases the full potential of the short forms of prose – the novella and the short story. I have been a fan for years. The economy of his prose and the uncanny insight he offers into the human condition are a rare gift. Stillicide, his latest book, is a collection of short fictions which originated as a BBC Radio 4 series. The pieces are interlinked and centre around the theme of water, as the title suggests. “Stillicide” is defined as “a continual dropping of water” or “a right or duty relating to the collection of water from or onto adjacent land.”

Highly topical not only for drought-stricken South Africa, but globally, the stories of Stillicide are set in an imagined, but not too-distant future where water is a highly priced commodity. The cityscape is familiar as the Thames still runs through it, but the iceberg transports to the city signal a new threatening reality. The characters of Stillicide attempt to carve out a meaningful existence in this hostile world.

A man with nothing left to lose is tasked with the security of the titular “water train” of the opening story. A neglected woman discovers hope within herself and nature. Two boys walk through a desolate landscape with a dog. An elderly couple are about to lose their house to rising sea levels, but they remain like limpets, “they barely move more than half a metre from their home scar all their lives”. The discovery of a rare insect has the potential to stop a development that half a million people are marching against with little hope. “The belligerent will of a thing to exist”, the need for a voice to be kept alive cannot be underestimated. Both find refuge in the stunning stories of Stillicide.

Stillicide

Cynan Jones

Granta, 2019

Review first published in the Cape Times on 24 January 2020.