First published 1980
Harry Moto lives in a white suburb of Johannesburg during the height of apartheid. His family employs black servants who must carry passes and live in designated areas. Harry watches the adults around him navigate the rigid racial laws that govern every aspect of daily life. His mother hosts tea parties while his father works in the city. The black workers who tend their garden and clean their house exist in a parallel world that Harry begins to notice more keenly as he grows older. At school, Harry learns about separate development, the government policy that claims to give each racial group its own space to flourish. But Harry sees the contradictions everywhere. The policy that promises equality delivers anything but. As Harry matures, he grapples with his place in this divided society and what it means to benefit from a system built on exclusion.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, african-literature
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: coming-of-age, social-commentary
Setting: Johannesburg, South Africa
Period: Apartheid Era
177 pages · Hardcover · Ravan Press
Content warnings: racism