Ruben Oliver's life is coming adrift from its moorings. He has been obliged to take early retirement from his job as a librarian due to 'rationalisation' and the new political realities of South Africa. His wife has died. One of his sons has settled in Australia, the other is about to emigrate to Canada while trying to persuade Ruben that it is too dangerous to remain. His best friend and neighbour, Johnny MacFarlane, has been brutally murdered. The only constants are his old family home in the suburbs of Cape Town, haunted by the ghost of a young slave woman; and his housekeeper, Magrieta, with whom he has a shared history that goes back more than half his life. Tessa Butler comes out of the rain one night in response to an advertisement for a lodger. Ruben is captivated by this beautiful young stranger. She restores passion to his life, but brings with her a turbulent past and a complex love life as well as demons from the world outside his home. Through her he gains a troubling view of female sexuality - its ghosts and bones and brazenness. The Rights of Desire is a meditation on ageing and on love, on loneliness and fulfilment, on guilt and innoce