By: Malla Nunn
Genre: YFB - General fiction (Children's / Teenage)
Published by: A & U Children
Published: 3 Jun 2019
ISBN: 9781760524814

Description

Adele loves being one of the popular girls at Keziah Christian Academy. She knows the upcoming semester at school will be great with her best friend Delia at her side. Then Delia dumps her for a new girl with more money, and Adele is forced to share a room with Lottie, the school pariah, who doesn't pray and defies teachers' orders.


As they share a copy of Jane Eyre, Lottie's gruff exterior and honesty grow on Adele, and together they take on bullies and protect each other from the vindictive and prejudiced teachers. When a boy goes missing on campus, Adele and Lottie must work together to solve the mystery, in the process learning the true meaning of friendship.


Review

You will love sharing Adele’s journey of a year in her life at Keziah Christian Academy, a boarding school in Swaziland.


Adele’s mother is a beautiful Swazi and her ‘sometimes’ father is a businessman who keeps Adele’s family a secret from his other white family in the city.


Adele is taught to be thankful and knows and accepts her place in the world. But her world shifts when upon returning from holidays her place in the upper class group is taken by a new wealthy girl. She is placed with the impetuous and lower class Lottie in a room left empty after a mysterious death occurred in it years earlier.


But as her friendship with Lottie develops, Adele begins to understand that sometimes you must stand up for what is right.


The nuances of a world set in 1960’s Swaziland are explored - filled with racial tension, and ancient beliefs and customs. It is a world that I thoroughly enjoyed reading about and learning from.


It is a terrific novel with themes of position in the world, prejudice, bullying, friendship and discovering your heritage. It is an ideal novel for all readers 12 and older.


Reviewed by Rob