Lost and Found in Johannesburg: A Memoir

Lost and Found in Johannesburg is a memoir that begins with an armed home invasion in the South African city of Mark Gevisser's birth. Beyond recounting this break-in, the book explores place and the boundaries that shape identity. Growing up during apartheid, Gevisser became fascinated with Holmden's Register of Johannesburg, a street guide that omitted entire black townships from its maps. He came to see his city as defined by divisions—between black and white, rich and poor, gay and straight—and set out to understand Johannesburg's inner life. Using maps, family photographs, memories, newspaper clippings, and courtroom testimony, Gevisser traces his family's path from an Orthodox Lithuanian shtetl to white suburban neighborhoods with legally mandated servants' quarters. He shares stories of others navigating the city's boundaries: gay men living double lives, domestic workers, and people who found ways to cross racial lines despite apartheid laws. He also examines physical barriers like The Wilds, a large park separating affluent Northern Suburbs from poorer neighborhoods—the same park crossed by the men who invaded his home.