Her anguish is mostly about her parents' daily fights, and when they take in a family of wandering Australians, "Gypsies," she hopes tensions at home will ease.
Growing up in a wooded Johannesburg suburb 40 years ago, Emily, 12, takes her white privilege for granted. One spring, a family of wanderers-a wildlife photographer, his wife, and two boys-comes to stay, and their strange, compelling, and dangerous presence will leave the Iris family infinitely changed. But her parents' continuing discontent leads them to welcome some peculiar strangers. Emily has her gentle older sister, Sarah, and Buza, the old Zulu nightwatchman, for company and comfort. Set in apartheid South Africa, this powerful and lyrically written novel is Linzi Glass's debut.Īs twelve-year-old Emily Iris explains it, her mother and father have always been eager to take in travelers and vagabonds, relying on the presence of outsiders to ease the tension between them. Sue Giffard, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, New York CityĬopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. Suggest this one to readers who are always looking for a sad book. Instead, it focuses primarily on Emily and her tragic family circumstances. While the story has emotional power and shows something of the class and race relationships of the time, it lacks a deep grounding in the social context, such as that shown in Beverley Naidoo's collection Out of Bounds (HarperCollins, 2003). Streak's semi-educated speech, for instance, sounds more American than South African. Emily's relationships with the people close to her ring true, and her friendship with Streak has its touching moments.
Through tragedy, the girls' parents finally come to a truce. The relationship between Otis and Sarah becomes more and more tense, and Otis rapes her. Emily increasingly looks to Buza, the night watchman, for love and reassurance, and he shares folktales and traditional Zulu wisdom with her. It soon becomes clear that the boys' father beats them regularly, and that one of his beatings most likely led to Otis's condition. Emily befriends the younger son, Streak, while the older son, Otis, who is clearly brain damaged, becomes almost a devoted shadow to her gentle and loving older sister, Sarah. In order to divert attention away from their failing marriage, Emily's emotionally distant parents invite a family to stay in a camper in their yard. Grade 9 Up This story of a fateful year in a girl's life takes place in 1960s apartheid South Africa. Original Product Guaranteed - Imported from USA
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