The World Beneath
A Novel
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
South Africa, 1976. Joshua lives with his mother in the maid’s room, in the backyard of their wealthy white employers’ house in the city by the sea. He doesn’t quite understand the events going on around him. But when he rescues a stranger and riots begin to sweep the country, Joshua has to face the world beneath—the world deep inside him—to make heartbreaking choices that will change his life forever. Genuine and quietly unflinching, this beautifully nuanced novel from a veteran journalist captures a child’s-eye view of the struggle that shaped a nation and riveted the world.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
London journalist Warman, who grew up as a "privileged white child" in Cape Town during South Africa's anti-apartheid struggle, sets this affecting novel in that same city and era. It is 1976, and Joshua, a black child, lives in a backyard hut with his mother, a maid for an affluent white couple. Visiting from "Jo'burg," Joshua's older brother tells him that he and others are covertly rebelling against the oppressive, racist government. Joshua embarks on his own risky undertaking when he shelters an injured anti-apartheid activist on the lam from the police. After the fugitive is discovered and Joshua comes under suspicion, two freedom fighters take him to an insurgent training camp in Angola for safekeeping. Through the eyes of an innocent boy trying to fathom the injustice and brutality of apartheid, as well as his own potentially violent role in the struggle, Warman presents a gripping personal portrait of a horrific chapter in South Africa's history. Avoiding didacticism, her novel lets the facts speak for themselves, making Joshua's story all the more hard-hitting. Ages 12 up.
