'Remarkable . . . In heartbreaking detail, Jonny Steinberg adds up the catastrophic toll on these two lives and the lives of people around them. Yet he never takes his eye off the larger picture, and the damage done to the Mandelas comes to stand for the damage done to millions; their history is the history of modern South Africa . . . [He gives] a fresh understanding of the crossroads at which my country now stands. Gripping and profoundly moving, this is Jonny Steinberg's finest book. I can't wait to read it again'
- Damon Galgut, Booker Prize-winning author of The Promise, in Literary Hub
'Based on far-ranging research as well as on a trove of recently uncovered materials . . . Steinberg's massive essay in political biography is unlikely to be superseded in a long time'
- J.M. Coetzee, Nobel Laureate 2003
'Only Steinberg could have written a book in which Winnie and Nelson can appear both larger-than-life and all too human. What a book! What an achievement!'
- Jacob Dlamini, author of The Terrorist Album
'For so long the Mandelas were seen as they were lauded-the freedom fighters who birthed a nation. Yet behind the front lines and the headlines, always there is a shadow narrative, subtler and more complex, a story about revolution and marriage, power and revenge. In this remarkable dual political biography, Jonny Steinberg has at last told it. Winnie & Nelson is a powerful, page-turning political fable unlike any I've read'
- Aminatta Forna, author of Happiness and The Window Seat
'This eloquent biography captures the mythic quality of these two leaders, their great love story and tragic estrangement, and the hubris and human frailty beneath the personas . . . A magnificent portrait of two people joined in the throes of making South African history'
- Kirkus