Gabriela Babnik's novel Dry Season takes on the themes of racism, the role of women in modern society and the loneliness of the human condition. A record of an unusual love affair between Anna, a 62-year-old designer from Central Europe, and Ismael, a 27-year-old African who was brought up, victimised, and abused on the street. What unites them is the loneliness of their bodies, a tragic childhood and the dry season, or 'Harmattan', during which neither nature nor love is able to flourish.