The World Beneath

Description

1970s South Africa. Eleven-year-old Joshua lives with his mother, who works as a maid for the Malherbes in a white middle-class area in Cape Town. We see this enclosed world through Joshua's eyes as we share his longing for his family and his past life in the rural Ciskei. When a boy enters the garden one night, Joshua offers him refuge. The stranger turns out to be a freedom fighter on the run. As riots sweep the country Joshua becomes more and more aware of the political situation around him and is determined to help bring about change for himself, his family and ultimately his country.

Reviews

A powerful and beautifully descriptive novel that brilliantly portrays apartheid in 1970s South Africa... This clever and insightful novel is an incredibly potent retelling through the eyes of a child Books for Keeps Warman turns her journalistic talents to historical fiction in her debut novel about the struggle to end apartheid in South Africa and how it shapes a young boy's life. [...] Each chapter feels thoroughly researched, with details about Joshua's life at a training camp and his return to Cape Town. [...] A good complement to nonfiction about apartheid South Africa, a little-explored place and period in children's literature. Kirkus ...the work serves to address a critical aspect of world history and can be a valuable addition to school libraries. This book is recommended for use in the classroom as well as for libraries with larger collections and where historical fiction is popular. School Library Journal Middle-schoolers who are intrigued by Joshua's situation should have little difficulty finding material to make sense of this gripping drama. Galleys