Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: When Morning Comes
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.arushiraina.ca/
CITY: Vancouver
STATE: BC
COUNTRY: Canada
NATIONALITY:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/arushi-raina-34ab3355/?ppe=1 * http://www.arushiraina.ca/about-.html * http://the-history-girls.blogspot.ca/2016/11/an-interview-with-arushi-raina-by-y-s.html
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: no2017008270
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/no2017008270
HEADING: Raina, Arushi
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100 1_ |a Raina, Arushi
370 __ |e Johannesburg (South Africa) |e Vancouver (B.C.) |f Poughkeepsie (N.Y.) |2 naf
372 __ |a Historical fiction |a Young adult fiction |a Management |2 lcsh
374 __ |a Authors |a Consultants |2 lcsh
375 __ |a Women |2 lcsh
377 __ |a eng
670 __ |a Raina, Arushi. When morning comes, 2016: |b t.p. (Arushi Raina) Back cover (Arushi Raina grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa, lives and works in Vancouver, BC, this is her first novel)
670 __ |a LinkedIn, Jan. 23, 2017 |b (Arushi Raina earned her BA in economics and English from Vassar College, works in management consulting for private and public sector clients across healthcare and social services)
670 __ |a Goodreads.com, Jan. 23, 2017 |b (Arushi Raina writes in the genre of historical fiction and young adult fiction)
PERSONAL
Born in South Africa.
EDUCATION:University of the Witwatersrand, B.A. (economics and law), 2010; Vassar College, B.A. (economics and English), 2014; Ivey Business School at Western University, M.B.A., 2018.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Analysis Group, summer analyst, 2013; World Bank Group, part-time consultant, 2014; KPMG Canada, consultant in strategy and operations, 2014-17; Ivey Centre for Healthcare Innovation, senior analyst, 2017 –.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Arushi Raina grew up in Johannesburg before moving to the United States, and her debut young adult novel, When Morning Comes, is set in her childhood home during the 1976 Soweto Uprising. Raina’s fictional retelling of the student uprising is told from the points-of-view of Zanele, Thabo, Meena, and Jack. Zanele is an African student, and she is organizing a protest against the Afrikaans Medium Decree Act. The act dictates that only English and Afrikaans must be spoken in schools, which further enforces apartheid and colonialism. Zanele’s friend, Thabo, is a petty thug who extorts money from local business owners, and he’s more concerned with money than politics. Yet, he too will be caught in the crosshairs of the coming uprising. Meanwhile, Meena, the daughter of an Indian store owner beholden to Thabo, sides with the students. As an outsider, she sympathizes with their cause. Jack, a white Afrikaner, also sides with Zanele, but mostly out of romantic interest. As the story follows each narrator, the characters struggle to reconcile their own desires with those of their friends and loved ones.
Discussing the novel in an online History Girls interview, Raina explained that When Morning Comes is “a story about collisions, the personal, day to day collisions the characters have with each other, against a backdrop of the larger collision of the Soweto Uprising of 1976. I needed to go to different parts of the city, to see things differently, to create the underlying tension in the story. But the truth is, I’ve been playing with different points of views for a while, I love how Zanele, Thabo, Jack and Meena all tell the story differently, and how the writer (me) and the reader has to come to terms with which, if any version they most relate to.” Indeed, Winnipeg Free Press Online correspondent Harriet Zaidman announced: “It’s a credible story of how lives intersect and how events can change lives as part of the trajectory of history. . . . Raina brings the characters together in a dramatic, if not unusual climax, but it shows how the past intrudes at random moments.”
Yet, in a rare negative assessment, an online Historical Novel Society columnist commented: “I really admired the concept and structure and was totally in sympathy with the idea of the story, but I found it difficult in places and was less emotionally involved than I wanted to be.” Offering both pros and cons in Quill & Quire Online, a reviewer asserted: “Despite a helpful historical note, and notwithstanding one reference to parcel bombs, young readers unfamiliar with this period may come away without a full appreciation of the extent of apartheid’s evils. Still, the novel presents an excellent starting point to inspire curiosity, and serves as a bold and dignified testament to a struggle that shouldn’t be forgotten.” On the other hand, Karyn Heuenmann in Resource Links found that “the short ‘historical intro’—significantly at the back of the novel—informs the reader of the real historical moment, but the novel itself is a far stronger exposition of the students’ anger and power than any historical commentary could be.” Online University of Manitoba CM magazine reviewer Crystal Sutherland offered both praise and advice, observing that “some Afrikaans is used throughout the books, with meanings provided in a glossary. . . . Until students become familiar with the terms, their turning to the glossary while keeping track of who is talking could, along with the unclear time-shifting, become frustrating. If readers make it past the first twenty pages, however, they won’t be able to put the book down. When Morning Comes starts out a bit disjointed, but it quickly turns into a fast-paced read with four key characters readers will love despite their flaws.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Children’s Bookwatch, December, 2016, review of When Morning Comes.
Kirkus Reviews, November 15, 2016, review of When Morning Comes.
Publishers Weekly, November 28, 2016, review of When Morning Comes.
Resource Links, December, 2016. Karyn Heuenmann, review of When Morning Comes.
ONLINE
Globe and Mail Online, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/ (December 30, 2016), review of When Morning Comes.
History Girls, http://the-history-girls.blogspot.ca/ (August 21, 2017), author interview.
Historical Novel Society, https://historicalnovelsociety.org/ (May 1, 2017), review of When Morning Comes.
Quill & Quire Online, http://www.quillandquire.com/ (September 1, 2016), review of When Morning Comes.
University of Manitoba CM magazine, https://www.umanitoba.ca/ (October 14, 2016), Crystal Sutherland, review of When Morning Comes.
Winnipeg Free Press, https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/ (August 20, 2016), review of When Morning Comes.*
Tuesday, 15 November 2016
An interview with Arushi Raina, by Y S Lee
Arushi Raina's potent debut novel, When Morning Comes, is a coming-of-age story set in apartheid-era South Africa. Told by four alternating first-person narrators - an angry revolutionary, an ambitious gangster, a son of extreme privilege, and a peaceful activist - it sets the narrators' personal stories against the backdrop of the Soweto Uprising of 1976.
Here's the official description:
Zanele is skipping school and secretly plotting against the apartheid government. The police can't know. Her mother and sister can't know.
Her best friend Thabo, schoolboy turned gang member, can tell she's up to something. But he has troubles of his own—a deal gone wrong and some powerful enemies.
Across the bridge, in the wealthy white suburbs, Jack plans to spend his last days in Johannesburg burning miles on his beat-up Mustang—until he meets a girl with an unforgettable face from the simmering black township—Soweto.
Working in her father's shop, Meena finds a packet of banned pamphlets. They lead to a mysterious black girl with a secret, a dangerous gangster with an expensive taste in clothes, and an engaging white boy who drives a battered red car.
A series of chance meetings changes everything.
A chain of events is set in motion—a failed plot, a murdered teacher, and a secret movement of students that has spread across the township.
And the students will rise.
When Morning Comes is a striking achievement. With four very distinct narrators who are often hostile to each other, it would be easy for the novel's structure to fracture or spin out of control. Instead, it coheres. Raina's handling of race and politics is both subtle and consistent. And her prose is by turns vivid and moving, striking and restrained - precisely the vehicle such a story demands. After finishing it, the novel haunted me for days. I'm so glad that Raina kindly agreed to answer some of my more persistent questions here.
YSL: I really admire the way you tell the story through four interlocking narratives. Each voice is incredibly distinct, the characters are frequently at odds with each other, and yet the novel holds together – an impressive technical accomplishment! Why did you choose to structure it in this way?
AR: I’m tempted to say that the book wrote itself that way—it’s a story about collisions, the personal, day to day collisions the characters have with eachother, against a backdrop of the larger collision of the Soweto Uprising of 1976. I needed to go to different parts of the city, to see things differently, to create the underlying tension in the story. But the truth is, I’ve been playing with different points of views for a while, I love how Zanele, Thabo, Jack and Meena all tell the story differently, and how the writer (me) and the reader has to come to terms with which, if any version they most relate to.
YSL: You were born in South Africa, but long after the novel’s action takes place. What inspired you to write about your earliest homeland and what kind of research did you do to establish a sense of time and place?
AR: For the longest time, I didn’t write about South Africa, partly because I didn’t feel I was able to, and partly because to write about home in North America made me feel like I was trying to pull some kind of exotic card out my bag of writer’s tricks. I was partly right about the first, wrong about the second. To write about something familiar from home may seem exotic to others, but may be the story you need to tell, which is less exotic to you, than, say writing about an epic slumber party in the heart of Jersey City (not that there is anything wrong with slumber parties or Jersey City). Like many, though, I finally felt inspired when was leaving Johannesburg to immigrate to Canada. And my doubts about being able to do the story justice, helped. I learned to tread carefully (but more on this later).
It was a tipping point, in many ways, but immigration is not super convenient for research. At high school, we’d spent a number of years studying apartheid history, and the Soweto Uprising in particular. This was a starting point, and a good one—I’d been a teenager then and remembered the experience of reading about it in a textbook. But it needed to be real. And for me, to make history breathe is to make it fiction.
After that, it was a lot of trawling through English and American libraries for the odd reference book on primary resources, and of course, the internet. And South Africans, too.
Arushi Raina, presently of Vancouver, B.C.
YSL: Inhabiting the minds of two black characters living under apartheid is a bold step. How could you feel confident that you were doing them justice? And what do you make of Lionel Shriver’s recent provocations on the subject of cultural appropriation?
AR: I think it is, and having grown up in Johannesburg, the complexities of the country and race relations are raw to me in a way that’s hard to describe. Being closer makes it harder to describe the context in large, defined brushstrokes. And the short answer to your question is no: I can never be fully confident that I’m doing them justice. I can only give my very best shot, I can tread carefully, questioning my assumptions at each step, pulling forward a universal humanity while not shying away from some of those differences. I can look at primary sources and read the words of the South African township youth (there are a number of speeches and records of letters available) - these words are sharper, more eloquent, than anything I could put to paper.
I think the attempt to reach and respectfully tell stories in other voices, marginalized voices is important, as much as the openness to further discussion and debate on my attempt, and depiction is important. I don’t want to be defensive, I want to try my best because it is an important story rarely told, and I want to hear all people’s views, least not South African teens. I think Lionel Shriver is contributing a specific point of view to the discussion, and she’s put forward a number of rather out-there examples. Living in post-apartheid South Africa, interacting with First Nations groups in Canada has made me aware that where there is pain, there is a need to tread carefully. But this does not lessen our responsibility to empathize and try telling difficult stories, always empowering these communities to either be involved or discuss/question what we do as storytellers. That’s really where our learning begins, or at least I hope it does.
YSL: Early in the novel, Thabo says, “it was stupid to put the one thing that mattered to you in a red dress for everyone to see”. And yet he does, repeatedly, because he doesn’t believe he has a choice. This is a powerful metaphor for a lot of things that happen in the novel. Is choice – or the lack thereof - largely an illusion for your characters?
AR: That’s a tricky one. I’d like to think that the characters, including Thabo, come face-to- face with a narrowing pool of difficult choices. And their resilience is in their ability to make and come to grips with these choices.
YSL: Each interracial relationship in the novel begins with antagonism, or at least guarded suspicion. This is logical enough and I imagine there’s a lot of historical evidence for interracial romances like Jack’s and Zanele’s. I’m curious about Zanele and Meena, too. How unusual was it to form platonic friendships across racial barriers?
AR: Pretty unusual. Talking to South Africans who lived through that time, you only did so if you really stuck your neck out. Your entire life wasn’t designed for you to do so. In the rare cases they did, it was through anti-apartheid activism, which, to Meena’s credit, she does get embroiled in.
YSL: Family bonds seem largely broken and/or ineffectual in your portrait of South African society. Jack’s parents value his academic achievements and whatever glory his bright future can reflect upon them; Zanele’s mother is trapped both by single parenthood and institutional racism; and Meena’s relationship with her father is dutiful but remote. This is surely not a coincidence! What connection do you see between a dehumanizing body politic and its subjects’ humanity?
AR: You know, I never really noticed this until you pointed it out! The parents sort of wrote themselves that way, inflected of course, through the point of views of their children. As you’ve pointed out, in many ways the apartheid institution wears at the very core of the family—in Zanele’s case, her family has been split apart by labour and group area act laws, breaking open all the cracks that may have lain underneath a family that didn’t suffer the same injustice. In Meena’s, she has to come to terms with the strange triaging of color, where Indians were treated marginally better to black people. To take advantage of this slight preferential treatment is a recipe for survival, and Meena’s father has already surrendered to it.
I also think that families can be a source of insulation from the threats of the wider world. In many cases, they were, in apartheid South Africa, from my friends’ parents’ accounts. For Meena, Zanele, Thabo and Jack to be who they end up being, they needed to have the insulation damaged, or ripped off.
YSL: Could you leave us with a quotation (or two) that really encapsulates the flavour of When Morning Comes?
AR:
“It’s the kind of storm that happens only on the Highveld, the thunder loud and rapid. She doesn’t speak. I need her to. Maybe she’s counting the people who’ve died since we first met.”
YSL: Thank so much, Arushi. While it's a cliché to call a novel timely, that is precisely the case here. I hope When Morning Comes is very widely read, especially at a time such as this.
---
This post is my (Ying's) last as a regular History Girl. Thank you to everyone who read and commented over the past two years! If you'd like to keep in touch, please consider signing up for my sporadic author newsletter.
---
Arushi Raina grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa. So far, Arushi’s also lived in Egypt, Nigeria, India, the US, UK, and most recently, Canada. At Vassar College in New York, Arushi studied Economics and English, where she was able to put together the beginnings of When Morning Comes. Besides writing, Arushi enjoys travelling, arguments, and long car rides. As a day job, Arushi works as a consultant. One day she’ll explain what that means.
Y S Lee is the author of the award-winning Mary Quinn mysteries (also called The Agency quartet in North America). She's presently writing a novel set in Southeast Asia during the Second World War.
Posted by Y S Lee at 00:00
Arushi Raina
Arushi Raina
Ivey MBA 2018 Candidate | Senior Consultant at KPMG Canada
Ivey Centre for Healthcare Innovation Ivey Business School at Western University
Canada 500+ 500+ connections
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Arushi is passionate about supporting strategic planning for private and public sector clients across
healthcare and social services, among a number of other industries. She is experienced in stakeholder management, research and data analysis and facilitation at the senior management and executive level. Arushi has lived in over seven countries across Africa, North America, Europe-- and is committed to supporting issues of diversity and social development, with a focus on youth. She is also the debut author of "When Morning Comes" - a Huffington Post Blog pick for a Top Ten Debuts of 2017.
See more of Arushi’s summary See more
Experience
Ivey Centre for Healthcare Innovation
Senior Analyst
Company NameIvey Centre for Healthcare Innovation
Dates EmployedMay 2017 – Present Employment Duration4 mos
LocationLondon, Ontario
Working with ICHI, clinical research team at University Hospital to develop a scale up strategy for Personalized Medicine initiative.
KPMG Canada
Consultant, Strategy & Operations
Company NameKPMG Canada
Dates EmployedSep 2014 – Present Employment Duration3 yrs
LocationVancouver, Canada Area
Worked in Western Canada with healthcare organizations, real-estate firms, Financial Regulators, Provincial Government and Municipal Government
Facilitated executive and management-level client teams on strategic and operational priorities across the health care, non-profit and public sector industry
Led research and data analysis to guide executive planning at the strategic, operational and planning for a number of key public sector clients across Healthcare, Cities and Provincial entities and private sector firms in the consumer products and real estate sectors. This included leading global practices in municipality management, and large provincial healthcare databases.
Managed multiple workstreams across complex projects, including Clinical Services Planning project supporting a $1 Billion hospital redevelopment. Assisted a number of key initiatives through project management and executive-level reporting
Developed and assisted clients in business case and budget development, IT functional
requirements and business process modelling
World Bank Group
Part-time Consultant
Company NameWorld Bank Group
Dates EmployedMay 2014 – Jun 2014 Employment Duration2 mos
LocationWashington D.C. Metro Area
Consulted with members of the LAC group to edit and synthesize poverty calculations handbook
Worked with supervisor to simplify and develop structure and layout of handbook
Helped simplify and better communicate complex economic concepts
Analysis Group
Summer Analyst
Company NameAnalysis Group
Dates EmployedJun 2013 – Aug 2013 Employment Duration3 mos
LocationGreater Boston Area
The Oxford Strategy Group
Project Manager
Company NameThe Oxford Strategy Group
Dates EmployedApr 2013 – Jun 2013 Employment Duration3 mos
LocationOxford, United Kingdom
Led team to research and develop supply chain innovations for FTSE 100 retailer
Formulated sophisticated mobile app and demand forecasting recommendations to improve supply chain availability and profitability
Poughkeepsie Family Court
Intern
Company NamePoughkeepsie Family Court
Dates EmployedSep 2012 – Dec 2012 Employment Duration4 mos
LocationPoughkeepsie
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Education
Ivey Business School at Western University
Ivey Business School at Western University
Degree Name Master of Business Administration - MBA Field Of Study Business Administration and Management, General
Dates attended or expected graduation 2017 – 2018
Vassar College
Vassar College
Degree Name Bachelor's degree Field Of Study Economics and English
Dates attended or expected graduation 2010 – 2014
Activities and Societies: Debate Society, National Model UN
General Honors and Department Honors (English)
Catherine Lucretia Blakely Prize in Economics
University of Oxford
University of Oxford
Dates attended or expected graduation 2013 – 2013
University of the Witwatersrand
University of the Witwatersrand
Degree Name Bachelor of Arts - BA Field Of Study Economics & Law
Dates attended or expected graduation 2009 – 2010
Activities and Societies: Vice Chancellor's Scholar, 2009 - Selected as one of the top 10 academic candidates from over 7,000 applications
Crawford College Sandton
Crawford College Sandton
Dates attended or expected graduation 2005 – 2009
AIS Lagos
AIS Lagos
Dates attended or expected graduation 2002 – 2004
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Volunteer Experience
Streetohome Foundation
Advisor
Company NameStreetohome Foundation
Dates volunteeredApr 2016 – Apr 2016 Volunteer duration1 mo
Cause Social Services
In a pro-bono capacity, helped to guide the development of a business case for three key pilot strategic initiatives to address rising homelessness within the Metro Vancouver Board.
Led the presentation to the StreetoHome Board, and further supported budget development for initiatives to ensure successful implementation
Startup Skool
Judge
Company NameStartup Skool
Dates volunteeredJul 2016 – Jul 2016 Volunteer duration1 mo
Cause Education
Served as a judge for student designed start up concepts, aimed at delivering a social impact.
Poughkeepsie Public Defender's Office
Intern
Company NamePoughkeepsie Public Defender's Office
Dates volunteeredJan 2014 – May 2014 Volunteer duration5 mos
Cause Civil Rights and Social Action
Assisted with client management and intake for misdemeanor and felony charges
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Print Marked Items
Raina, Arushi: When Morning Comes
Karyn Heuenmann
Resource Links.
22.2 (Dec. 2016): p37.
COPYRIGHT 2016 Resource Links
http://www.atcl.ca
Full Text:
[E]
RAINA, Arushi
When Morning Comes
Tradewind Books, 2016.
222p. Gr. 1012. 978-1-926890-14-2.
Pbk. $12.95
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
I am not an expert on African politics, but have become increasingly interested through a number of fabulous young
adult novels that have come my way. First there was Cape Town (2012), by Brenda Hammond; then Walking Home
(2014), by Eric Walters; and now When Morning Comes, by Arushi Raina. They just keep getting better. Raina's
complex characterization and intricate plot kept me enthralled from my first meeting of Zanele and Jack and Meena
through to the devastatingly inevitable conclusion. Raina does not capitulate to simplistic narrative expectations of
some current YA genres, wherein the teen protagonists rise above the socio-political powers against which they
struggle and succeed; this is perhaps because the novel is based on historical events, but it is nonetheless admirably
handled.
Raina's characters are young: inexperienced yet passionate, afraid yet determined. They behave immaturely under
pressure. They make mistakes. They--and more importantly those around them--suffer for those mistakes. And so they
learn, but that learning sometimes comes too late. The bravery of some characters seems at times almost excessive, but
it is always believable.
The story is set in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1976. We meet Zanele as she and her friends attempt to bomb a
power station. The attempt fails; two of her friends are arrested; Zanele escapes. Theirs is but a small act of terrorism
aimed at helping to overthrow the apartheid government. As the novel progresses, Zanele's life becomes inextricably
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entwined with that of Jack, a naive white boy who is entranced by Zanele; Meena, daughter of a South Asian
shopkeeper who is being extorted by a local gang; and Thabo, one of the gang members and Zanele's childhood friend.
The intricate connections Raina constructs in her narrative all lead inexorably toward the tragedy that erupted on June
16th, 1976. The Soweto Uprising is infamous in South African history for the police brutality used against the 15,000
students in the protest that quickly became a riot. Raina's novel traces the path from the government imposition of
Afrikaans as the language of instruction, through the Soweto high school students' growing dissatisfaction, to their
cohesive plan of action. The short "historical intro"--significantly at the back of the novel--informs the reader of the
real historical moment, but the novel itself is a far stronger exposition of the students' anger and power than any
historical commentary could be.
Thematic Links: South Africa; Soweto Uprising; Apartheid
[E] Excellent, enduring, everyone should see it!
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
Heuenmann, Karyn. "Raina, Arushi: When Morning Comes." Resource Links, Dec. 2016, p. 37+. General OneFile,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA476843339&it=r&asid=58d41fee06faf3da5c82a046f25128f2.
Accessed 9 Aug. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A476843339
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Raina, Arushi: WHEN MORNING COMES
Kirkus Reviews.
(Nov. 15, 2016):
COPYRIGHT 2016 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Raina, Arushi WHEN MORNING COMES Tradewind Books (Children's Fiction) $18.95 2, 15 ISBN: 978-1-896580-
69-2
In her debut novel, Raina applies the now-familiar "teenage girl takes on the government" trope to the Soweto uprising
of June 1976.Zanele, a black grade-12 student, is not a reluctant hero. She starts her portion of the narration by
describing her role in the attempted bombing of a power plant and goes on to be one of the primary organizers of the
student protest against unjust language laws. She is a leader by conviction. The author uses three other narrators to
highlight this. Jack is Zanele's most obvious foil. A white boy from a middle-class family, his understanding of racial
inequality extends only to his attempts to get close to Zanele, who occasionally assists her mother in serving his family.
A black gang member and an Indian shopkeeper's daughter respectively, Thabo and Meena are united by their
friendship with Zanele but diverge in the ways in which they engage with the community and the police. The
presentation of characters with different racial identities beautifully highlights how those identities shape the
characters' understandings and experiences of apartheid and their subsequent reactions to the uprising. Small details,
such as Jack and his friends listening to Miles Davis as they put on blackface, stoke the tension in the prose. The
violence that erupts is gut-wrenching but unsurprising. Readers who love the fast pace and high stakes of dystopian
teen literature should snag this book. This timely reminder of the power and passion of young people contextualizes
current student protests by honoring those of the past. (historical note, glossary, glossary sources) (Historical fiction. 13
& up)
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
"Raina, Arushi: WHEN MORNING COMES." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Nov. 2016. General OneFile,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA469865854&it=r&asid=e2f0053205a7615a70271c7d9bae3947.
Accessed 9 Aug. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A469865854
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When Morning Comes
Children's Bookwatch.
(Dec. 2016):
COPYRIGHT 2016 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com/cbw/index.htm
Full Text:
When Morning Comes
Arushi Raina
Tradewind Books
c/o Orca Book Publishers
PO Box 468, Custer, WA 98240-0468
www.orcabook.com
9781896580692, $18.95, Library Binding, 232pp, www.amazon.com
The debut novel of Arushi Raina and written specifically for young readers ages 14 and up, "When Morning comes" is
the story of Zanele, who is skipping school and secretly plotting against the apartheid government. The police can't
know. Her mother and sister can't know. Her best friend Thabo, schoolboy turned gang member, can tell she's up to
something. But he has troubles of his own--a deal gone wrong and some powerful enemies. Across the bridge, in the
wealthy white suburbs, Jack plans to spend his last days in Johannesburg burning miles on his beat-up Mustang--until
he meets a girl with an unforgettable face from the simmering black township--Soweto. Working in her father's shop,
Meena finds a packet of banned pamphlets. They lead to a mysterious black girl with a secret, a dangerous gangster
with an expensive taste in clothes, and an engaging white boy who drives a battered red car. A series of chance
meetings changes everything. A chain of events is set in motion--a failed plot, a murdered teacher, and a secret
movement of students that has spread across the township. And the students will rise. A simply riveting read from
cover to cover, "When Morning Comes" is especially recommended for both school and community library YA Fiction
collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "When Morning Comes" is also available in a paperback
edition (9781926890142, $10.95).
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
"When Morning Comes." Children's Bookwatch, Dec. 2016. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA475325133&it=r&asid=a36dd079f9eef0aa8ca3b3ac7a63feaa.
Accessed 9 Aug. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A475325133
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When Morning Comes
Publishers Weekly.
263.48 (Nov. 28, 2016): p70.
COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* When Morning Comes
Arushi Raina. Tradewind (Orca, dist.), $10.95 trade paper (232p) ISBN 978-1-926890-14-2
This fictionalized account of a student uprising that began in Soweto, South Africa, on June 16, 1976, unfolds through
the first-person narratives of four young adults from different backgrounds whose lives intersect. An African student,
Zanele, secretly organizes the protest against the Afrikaans Medium Decree Act, which required the use of English and
Afrikaans ("the language of the oppressors") in schools. Her apolitical friend Thabo heads a local gang, extorting
money from an Indian store owner, whose daughter Meena, is sympathetic to the students. Meanwhile, Jack, a white
Afrikaner, meets, befriends, and comes to love Zanele. Unlikely alliances develop and shift among the four
protagonists, each of whom feels pressure from loved ones to conform to expectations. Raina's story powerfully
demonstrates the high stakes of the teenagers' choices while maintaining a bracing pace that builds steady tension.
Each character's distinct voice contributes to a sense of imminent change; in Zanele's words, "Morning was coming,
and it seemed as if I'd waited for this a long, long time--longer even than I'd been alive." A riveting and accomplished
debut. Ages 14-up. (Feb.)
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
"When Morning Comes." Publishers Weekly, 28 Nov. 2016, p. 70. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA473149983&it=r&asid=96beacab614a9f44efac935cc308a9b1.
Accessed 9 Aug. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A473149983
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Diverse fiction roundup--youth
Booklist.
113.8 (Dec. 15, 2016): p48.
COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
In anticipation of our February 1 Spotlight on Diverse Books, we present this group of 2017 youth books presenting
diverse content that you will want to put on your radar.
* Allegedly.
By Tiffany D. Jackson.
Jan. 2017.400p. HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen, $17.99 (9780062422644). Gr. 9-12.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Mary B. Addison was nine when a jury quickly convicted her of a crime the public was already convinced she'd
committed: the murder of Alyssa Richardson, a white infant that African American Mary and her mother were
babysitting. Back then, Mary kept quiet about the incident. Now almost 16, she has spent the better part of her life
under lock and key, first in "baby jail" and then in a group home. But Mary has a boyfriend now, and they're expecting
a baby, and there's no way the state will let a convicted baby-killer keep her child. For the first time since her trial,
Mary may actually have to speak about her childhood, her tumultuous relationship with her mother, and what
happened--allegedly--that night. Interspersed with psychiatric evaluations and newspaper clippings, this slowly unfolds
in two directions: elements of Mary's past are revealed even as the story rolls toward its unsettling conclusion.
Suspenseful without being emotionally manipulative, compelling without resorting to shock value, this is a tightly spun
debut that wrestles with many intense ideas and ends with a knife twist that will send readers racing back to the
beginning again. Complicated family loyalties, the lasting effects of media sensationalism, and the privileges inherent
with whiteness all come into play here, and Mary herself is a carefully crafted character, unreliable at times and
sympathetic at others, who will not be forgotten.--Maggie Reagan
* American Street.
By Ibi Zoboi.
Feb. 2017.336p. HarperCollinsfBalzer + Bray, $17.99 (9780062473042). Gr. 9-12.
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Zoboi's stunning debut intertwines mysticism and love with grit and violence to tell the story of Fabiola Toussaint, a
Haitian teen adjusting to her new life in Detroit. Fabiola's dream of a better life with her aunt and cousins in America
snags when her mother is detained at the U.S. border. Forced to continue alone, she must also confront the reality that
her new neighborhood is every bit as dangerous as the one she left behind in Port-au-Prince. Drugs, gangs, and
violence pervade the status quo, but thanks to her cousins' tough reputations, Fabiola can find her footing. Zoboi, who
emigrated to the U.S. from Haiti, brings a nuanced portrayal of that culture to the narrative. Evocative prose, where
Fabiola calls on voodoo spirits, informs and enriches her character, while standing in counterpoint to her hard-as-nails
cousins. Zoboi pulls no punches when describing the dangerous realities of the girls' lives, but tender moments are
carefully tucked into the plot as well. This story is many things. It is a struggle for survival. It is the uncovering of
one's bravest self. And, most significant, it is the coming together of a family. One or two scenarios strain credibility,
but the characters' complexities ultimately smooth over any bumps. Fierce and beautiful.--Julia Smith
Calico Girl.
By Jerdine Alolen.
Feb. 2017.192p. Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman, $16.99 (9781481459815). Gr. 4-6.
Fort Monroe, a Union-controlled outpost in the antebellum South, provides the backdrop for the story of Callie, an
enslaved girl. Callie's mistress is also her aunt, and one day she will free Callie, like she freed her brother, Callie's
father. But the sale of Callie's stepbrother, to raise money for the war effort, reveals how fragile that promise is. Then
comes news of Fort Monroe, where slaves can find refuge as "contraband of war," outside the reach of newly seceded
states. Part one documents the start of the Civil War and the breakup of Callie's world, while part two focuses on the
choices Callie makes as she prepares to leave her family for an education in the North. Callie's story, despite the
disturbing complexity of her family tree, is less compelling than the history lesson. Background notes and a time line at
the beginning explore how Union soldiers were able to exploit a legal loophole to save countless lives, while an
afterword provides further source material for this pivotal moment in American history.--Kara Dean
* The Hate U Give.
By Angie Thomas.
Feb. 2017.464p. HarperCollins/Balzer+Bray, $17.99 (9780062498533). Gr. 9-12.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Sixteen-year-old Starr lives in two very different worlds: one is her home in a poor black urban neighborhood; the
other is the tony suburban prep school she attends and the white boy she dates there. Her bifurcated life changes
dramatically when she is the only witness to the unprovoked police shooting of her unarmed friend Khalil and is
challenged to speak out--though with trepidation--about the injustices being done in the event's wake. As the case
becomes national news, violence erupts in her neighborhood, and Starr finds herself and her family caught in the
middle. Difficulties are exacerbated by their encounters with the local drug lord for whom Khalil was dealing to earn
money for his impoverished family. If there is to be hope for change, Starr comes to realize, it must be through the
exercise of her voice, even if it puts her and her family in harm's way. Thomas' debut, both a searing indictment of
injustice and a clear-eyed, dramatic examination of the complexities of race in America, invites deep thoughts about
our social fabric, ethics, morality, and justice. Beautifully written in Starr's authentic first-person voice, this is a marvel
of verisimilitude as it insightfully examines two worlds in collision. An inarguably important book that demands the
widest possible readership.--Michael Cart
HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: From the moment this book sold, it has been high-profile. An in-the-works movie
adaptation will further push this to the head of the class.
* Hello, Universe.
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By Erin Entrada Kelly.
Mar. 2017.320p. Greenwillow, $16.99 (9780062414151). Gr. 3-6.
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Four middle-schoolers' fates intertwine one summer in Kelly's (The Land of Forgotten Girls, 2016) touching tale of
friendship. Scrawny, aciturn Virgil Salinas can generally be found caring for his guinea pig and avoiding neighborhood
bully Chet Bullens. The only people he feels comfortable around are his Lola (his Filipino grandmother) and his
Japanese American friend Kaori, who fancies herself a psychic. Kaori's quirky self-confidence is a foil to Virgil's
insecurities, and when he comes to her for help befriending a girl in his class, Valencia Somerset, she can't wait to
consult her star chart. For her own part, Valencia struggles with nightmares after being rejected by her best friend, and
the fact that she's deaf hasn't made finding new friends easy. When she spots Kaori's "business card" on a notice board,
she makes an appointment to discuss her troubling dreams. That very day, Virgil goes missing, and Valencia joins
Kaori's search for the boy. Chapters alternate between the four kids' perspectives, infusing the story with their unique
interests, backgrounds, beliefs, and doubts. Lola's hilariously grim Filipino folk stories weave in and out of Virgil's
mind, ultimately giving him the courage to stand up for himself; and rather than holding her back, Valencia's deafness
heightens her perceptiveness. Readers will be instantly engrossed in this relatable neighborhood adventure and its
eclectic cast of misfits.--Julia Smith
Ronit and Jamil.
By Pamela L. Laskin.
Feb. 2017.192p. HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen, $17.99 (9780062458544). Gr. 9-12.
Israeli-born Ronit's abba works as a pharmacist in East Jerusalem; Palestinian Jamil's abi works as a doctor. But when
both fathers decide to drag their willful teens onto the job with them, they impart the same stern words of advice:
"Don't look." Yet in this modern-day Romeo and Juliet revamp, Ronit is quick to admire Jamil's hazel gaze, and Jamil,
too, swiftly swoons for the "girl / with the song in [her] voice." So begin text-message trysts, marketplace meetups, and
a love as fierce as it is forbidden. Like its predecessor, Laskin's tale, a series of mostly page-length poems, unfolds in
five acts. Alternating between the perspectives of each teen (and, eventually, their fathers), it illuminates a tense but
textured land riddled with rockets, roadblocks, and olive trees. Occasionally saccharine but always accessible, the
modern verse--flecked with Arabic, Hebrew, and iconic excerpts from the play itself--will ease romance-hungry teens
into both Shakespeare's original and the challenging context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A welcome nod to hope
in the face of the impossible.--Briana Shemroske
When Morning Comes.
By Arushi Raina.
Jan. 2017. 210p. Trademind, paper, $10.95 (9781926890142). Gr. 9-12.
South Africa's 1976 Soweto student uprising brought the bitterness and tragedy of the antiapartheid struggle onto the
world stage. Raina's novel tells the story via multiple narrators who offer their own takes in alternating chapters:
Zanele assumes a bold and dangerous activist role; Meena, daughter of an Indian shopkeeper, gets involved as an
intermediary; Thabo, Zanele's neighborhood boyfriend and wannabe junior gangster watches helplessly as Zanele gets
more deeply enmeshed in the political movement and falls for Jack, a privileged white teen smitten with her beauty and
spirit. Class and race intersect at a pivotal moment in history as the compelling characters--a wide cross section of
South Africans--offer their stories, and a day in the life of a country in crisis comes into focus. Suspense builds
gradually to the day of the uprising, a surprise twist grabs the reader near the end, and action-movie excitement takes
over when Zanele becomes a fugitive. A sophisticated political thriller that challenges readers and offers no pat
endings. The appended historical note and glossary are essential.--Anne O'Malley
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Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
"Diverse fiction roundup--youth." Booklist, 15 Dec. 2016, p. 48+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA476563559&it=r&asid=f029c8e9c6fe9fc273f68026a3d3e280.
Accessed 9 Aug. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A476563559
When Morning Comes
By Arushi Raina
Tradewind Books, 232 pages, $19.95
In 1976 South Africa, unarmed black high-school students were killed during the Soweto uprising, a series of organized protests involving thousands of students opposing a new law that threatened their English-speaking education. Debut novelist Arushi Raina now lives in Vancouver, but grew up in Johannesburg. Her fictional story about the time leading up to the uprising is told from four different perspectives representing three different races. But this is not a character-driven novel. The plot dives right into the dangerous and oppressive political climate and the external events that motivate the teens’ actions; it’s so immersive that some readers may feel a bit lost by the lack of historical context or background information. It has an in-the-moment, documentary feel that puts historical realism and authenticity first.
When Morning Comes
BY ARUSHI RAINA
Find & buy on
This story, set in 1976 at the time of the Soweto student protests, is one that should interest young people of today who may know little or nothing about the struggle against apartheid.
It’s about four young people: a black girl, Zanele; an Indian, Meena; a street thug, Thabo; and a wealthy white youth, Jack. All are in their late teens. The story begins when Jack and his friends, all drunk, paint their faces black and gate-crash a black nightclub. Trouble ensues, but there is also an instant, unspoken attraction between Jack and Zanele. The two keep meeting, but they have a difficult, uneasy relationship.
Zulu and Afrikaans words are used occasionally, and there is a glossary at the back. I enjoyed looking up these words as they added interest and atmosphere. However, there are four narrators, all of whom speak in a similar style. I found this confusing, and it was tiresome to be constantly going back to check who was speaking. The plot is complex and often hard to follow, though things become clearer during the final climactic chapters.
I sensed that the author cared deeply about her characters, but their emotions did not seem fully explored in her story. I wanted to know more about them: their backgrounds, their feelings for each other and, especially, their fears. Their emotional lives were hinted at in brief conversations—but we rarely heard their thoughts, which could have revealed much more.
This book, although beautifully written, demands a lot of the reader. I really admired the concept and structure and was totally in sympathy with the idea of the story, but I found it difficult in places and was less emotionally involved than I wanted to be. Recommended for teens of 15+ who are keen readers.
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BOOK REVIEWS
When Morning Comes
by Arushi Raina
Forty years after the June 16, 1976, Soweto Student Uprising drew global attention to apartheid’s brutal system of repression, Arushi Raina’s debut novel, set in the weeks leading up to that fateful day, introduces readers to a group of young South Africans.
61BRLYoEIvLZanele, a black student, is secretly plotting against the government. Her best friend, Thabo, is a gang member who’s made powerful enemies. Across the bridge in Johannesburg’s wealthy white suburbs, Jack is enjoying one final summer in his beat-up Mustang before heading to Oxford. Working in her father’s shop, Meena discovers a stack of banned pamphlets, which lead her to a black girl with a secret, the white boy whose car she sometimes drives, and a dangerous tsotsi who’s extorting money from her family’s business. When the characters’ worlds collide, they help to ignite the tinderbox that is Soweto in the summer of 1976.
The characters in Raina’s novel are violent, ruthless, and sometimes morally ambiguous. With most of their political leaders already in jail or in exile, they are also fully engaged with an uncompromising adult world: as the story opens, Zanele is planning to bring down power line towers with dynamite supplied by the armed wing of the African National Congress in Mozambique.
If Zanele is the source of the narrative’s momentum, Meena is its facilitator. Being Indian (rather than black or white), and therefore able to fly under the police radar, she offers the reader an outsider’s perspective. Through Meena, we are introduced to the shadowy figure of Coetzee, a brutal Special Branch officer. Meena also plays a pivotal role in uniting the others toward a common goal, so it’s a shame that her motivation for getting involved in such dangerous business is never fully explained.
By contrast, it’s all but impossible for Zanele to avoid becoming embroiled in the protest against the Bantu Education Act, which decreed that school subjects be taught in Afrikaans and provided the final insult to deliberately underfunded, overcrowded township schools. The murder of a teacher who continued to teach math in Afrikaans despite student threats sets events racing to their inevitable conclusion.
As the groups march toward Orlando Stadium on June 16, Zanele reports, “a hiss went through the crowd, which became a word that travelled down to me. Police. I lost Vusi as he ran ahead to find out if it was true. I didn’t see him again.”
Police throw tear gas, and students retaliate by throwing rocks at a police dog. A policeman fires his gun. By day’s end, approximately 200 students will be dead. A white officer dies after being doused in gasoline and set on fire – an act for which Zanele believes she bears some responsibility.
When one voice drops from the narrative in the novel’s final chapters, it’s hard not to wonder who has paid the highest price. A last-minute reveal is perhaps a bit too convenient, but the tension of those final scenes is otherwise admirably executed, the resolution satisfying but not too neat.
If anything is lacking, it’s greater context for what the teens were up against. Despite a helpful historical note, and notwithstanding one reference to parcel bombs, young readers unfamiliar with this period may come away without a full appreciation of the extent of apartheid’s evils. Still, the novel presents an excellent starting point to inspire curiosity, and serves as a bold and dignified testament to a struggle that shouldn’t be forgotten.
When Morning Comes.
Arushi Raina.
Vancouver, BC: Tradewind Books, 2016.
221 pp., pbk. & hc., $12.95 (pbk.), $20.00 (hc.).
ISBN 978-1-926890-14-2 (pbk.), 978-1-896580-69-2 (hc.).
Grades 9-12 / Ages 14-17.
Review by Crystal Sutherland.
***½ /4
excerpt:
Zanele came in to buy red lipstick.
"How's what's his name, Jack, doing?" I said, looking down at the cold black tube as it rolled across the counter to me.
"I don't know," she said, and let the words hand there, clarifying nothing.
I tallied up the lipstick purchase and put the tube in a bag. I hadn't expected Zanele to be so serious about the white boy. So serious that she wouldn't tell me.
"It was a question," I said. "That's all."
"I know. It doesn't matter."
But it did.
"It's finally happening," she said.
"What?"
Zanele leaned forward across the counter as three of my father's friends entered the store. "Sixteen June. Keep an eye out."
"For what?"
Zanele flashed my father's friends a huge fake smile, then left.
Set in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1976, When Morning Comes recounts the planning and execution of an explosion at a power plant in protest of apartheid. The political climate and racial tension is told from the perspective of four very different individuals: Zanele, a black student and leader of a student uprising against apartheid; Jack, a rich white student whose parents employ Zanele's mother as a housekeeper and server; Thabo, a gang member and Zanele's friend; and Meena, the daughter of Indian immigrants who works at her father's grocery store. The lives and stories of these four individuals cross to show how racism and social status affects their paths, and how individuals, despite their differences, can come together to affect real change.
High school student Zanele knows she needs to take action against the racist attitudes and actions that pervaded Johannesburg in 1976. She hates that her mother has little choice but to work as a maid and servant for a rich white family, and she is very much aware that her future will be no different if no action is taken. Zanele can make money to help her mother and her sister by singing at a shebeen, an illegal bar run by Thabo who is enamoured with her despite her sister being a better performer. The stark difference between the living conditions and rights between blacks and whites is more than Zanele can bear. Changes to the education system push Zanele and her classmates into action. The announcement that students will have to complete their final three years of education in Afrikaans is one more barrier the government has created that Zanele and her classmates will have to overcome.
One night when Zanele is performing, three white boys, very drunk, stumble into the Shebeen. For Jack, it's love at first sight while Zanele is frustrated that the white kids feel they can come into the shebeen while she and her friends would be arrested if they tried to enter a bar frequented by white clientele. She doesn't know that her mother works for Jack's family until she offers to help her mother one day. She is surprised to see him, but she also feels she should have known all along and that the only reason he took an interest in her is because she's his housekeeper's daughter.
As the group of people wanting to take action against racism grows and begins to take shape, Zanele is surprised to find an ally in Meena. Meena helps the group pass information to each other and has access to illegal pamphlets circulated by groups that have been banned by the government for taking action against the racist regime. Meena's father used to belong to these groups, but he was never questioned as he and his family were almost invisible being of East Indian descent in a setting where the focus was on how whites treated blacks. Though East Indian businesses are harassed for money by the police, as all businesses are, their race is rarely an issue. Zanele is sceptical at first, not trusting Meena to stay quiet about their activity, but eventually trusts her enough to share their plans and believes Meena when she says Jack is an ally. The bombing is carried out, and many lives are lost. The lasting impact is yet to be seen, but the foundation for change has been set largely in part by the bond between a black girl, a white boy, and an East Indian girl whose unlikely friendship is integral to the success of the power plant bombing.
When Morning Comes begins with Zanele, Jack, and Meena thinking about the night of the bombing, then goes into the events leading up to that night. The time shift isn't clear, and, until readers realize they've gone back in time, it's a bit confusing. Readers may struggle through the first few short sections, but the shift in time soon becomes clear, and readers will be eager to fill in the gaps left by the introduction: who survives, whose relationships last, and who is committed to carrying out the bombing regardless of the consequences?
Some Afrikaans is used throughout the books, with meanings provided in a glossary. If the book is being used in a class set in English classes, it would be useful for teachers to have the most common terms reproduced on a bookmark. Until students become familiar with the terms, their turning to the glossary while keeping track of who is talking could, along with the unclear time-shifting, become frustrating. If readers make it past the first 20 pages, however, they won't be able to put the book down. When Morning Comes starts out a bit disjointed, but it quickly turns into a fast-paced read with four key characters readers will love despite their flaws.
Highly Recommended.
A MEd (Literacy) and MLIS graduate, Crystal Sutherland is a librarian living in Halifax, NS.
Teens' lives intersect in Soweto for teenagers in divided society
Reviewed by: Harriet Zaidman
Posted: 08/20/2016 3:00 AM | Comments: 0
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/8/2016 (356 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The Soweto Uprising in June 1976 proved to be a seminal event that cracked the structure of apartheid in South Africa. The protest by 20,000 black schoolchildren against the enforced teaching of the Afrikaans language sparked mounting protests and actions that finally caused the race-based system to crumble in 1990.
In her first novel, aimed at young adolescents, but also suitable for adult reading, the Vancouver-based Arushi Raina has written a fictional account of four teenagers from different sections of the divided society in the days before the uprising. It’s a credible story of how lives intersect and how events can change lives as part of the trajectory of history.
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It’s also a reminder about how single events can become flashpoints for change. Blacks linked the Afrikaans language with the oppressive Boer-dominated government. Opposition to the new decree simmered. Zanele, a young teenager, gets involved in the underground movement, but the restrictive pass laws that controlled the movements of blacks and the brutality meted out by the police make her involvement dangerous. She keeps her participation a secret from her sister and mother.
Jack, meanwhile, represents the privileged white world. Raina illustrates the contrasts well, the normalcy of inequality. His roomy house in the suburbs is a world away from the tin shack in the township Zanele’s mother leaves behind every day to work as a maid for Jack’s family. Jack is his parents’ hope, headed for an advanced education at Oxford, but he questions his future when he becomes involved with Zanele.
A massive national security service propped up the apartheid system. But the external police force relied upon spies within the townships to provide information about resistance organizers and to foster a continuing sense of mistrust among community members. Poverty drove many people to rat on their friends, as Thabo, Zanele’s school friend, does to get some cash and bolster his status in a gang.
Caught in between were people of Indian heritage who were allowed to succeed on the fringes of white society. The result was some Indian South Africans identified with the white-dominated government, while others felt the sting of discrimination and limitation. Meena, an aspiring doctor, is willing to give up her dreams to participate in the struggle against apartheid, while her father does whatever he can to keep their household (and especially his daughter) away from the prying eyes of the police.
The characters’ conversations, which include words in Zulu and Afrikaans (explained in a glossary), are in clipped phrases; their oblique references reflect their suspicion about each other or concern that someone could be listening. The challenges of organizing an opposition action amid fear, internal conflicts and the physical difficulties of movement and communication made what happened an unlikely surprise. Masses of children converged in a demonstration and were attacked by police using guns and armored vehicles. Four decades later, the death toll is unknown. The government tallied 23 dead, but others claim as many as 700 people, mostly children and teenagers, were killed.
Raina brings the characters together in a dramatic, if not unusual climax, but it shows how the past intrudes at random moments. She lived in South Africa as a child during the time of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the 1990s. She observes that although progress has been made in terms of racial mixing in certain segments of society, such as education, the serving class is still black.
The deepening economic crisis is increasing disparities between races again, which may cause the ghosts of the past to cause upheaval in the years to come.
Harriet Zaidman is a teacher-librarian in Winnipeg.