Winner of the National Book Award in 1991, this is the tale of a white woman on a quest in the Kalahari. Rush creates a bizarre world centered on a Utopian community in the Kalahari, where a charismatic man offers sanctuary to fallen women. A strong-minded American social scientist journeys through the desert to find this man, falls in love with him and engages in endless philosophical babble. This comic novel manages to evoke daily life in Botswana -- and skewers the notion of well-intentioned academics at large in the developing world. The description of the remarkable trek from Gabarone to the Kalahari is classic.  (BOT03, $15.95)