What a wonderful surprise this book was! The title and cover attracted me to the book and that combined with some great reviews from Goodreads friends made me anxious to read it. I was granted an ARC from the publisher through Netgalley.

I was a mother with young children at the time of apartheid and though I of course knew what going on in South Africa I didn’t at that time dig deeper and/or read much about it, there just wasn’t time. The book takes place in the mid-1970’s.

This book is about a 9 year old white girl from South Africa who has to deal with the death of her parents. But that is just the beginning of the struggles for Robin. She is taken in by a loving and caring aunt, Edith, who is a flight attendant and she tries to quit her job and just take care of Robin but that just made her unhappy and depressed. She goes back to work but hires an older black woman named Beauty to watch Robin when she is away. Beauty is in the city trying to find her daughter who was caught up in the rioting during the first days of apartheid and is now missing.

Both points of view were equally interesting and extremely well written. I felt that I could understand some of what Beauty might feel being a mom myself, but of course nothing would equal the things that she experiences and the truths that she discovers. Robin’s point of view is at times very sad and at other times she is enveloped in the kindness of so many peripheral characters who step up to “mother” Robin. There are many wonderful characters including the Goldman’s, a couple who have helped to smuggle Jews out of troubled areas and a homosexual couple who loved to host parties but had a soft spot in their hearts for Robin. There is even a social worker, Wilhelmina, who is assigned to make sure that Robin is being cared for properly, this character showed so much growth during the story.

This is also a coming of age book for Robin and she has to “unlearn” many of the things she had been taught by her parents and friends. The Afrikaners, including her parents, were united in their hatred of Jews, blacks and homosexuals. Through her relationships that revolve around Edith and her apartment she meets Jews and homosexuals and Beauty, her live in caretaker, who is black. Both Robin and Beauty find a love growing between each other that seems surprising to both of them.

I am making this book sound much simpler than it is. It is rich in beautiful prose and well developed characters. It is atmospheric in the description of the riots, destruction and loss of life during Apartheid. It is multi-layered and just a wonderful experience to read!

This is a great book and I will look forward to what this brilliant author has to write next.

It had been an ordinary Sunday in every way. My parents fought and then made up and then fought again, switching from being adversaries to allies so seamlessly that you couldn’t put your finger on the moment when the lines were crossed and recrossed. Cat perfectly acted out her part of the quiet understudy twin, so I could take my place in the spotlights playing the leading role for both of us. I asked too many questions and repeatedly pushed the boundaries, and Mabel hovered like a benevolent shadow in the wings. The only difference was that, without my knowing it, the clock had started ticking; in just over three days, I’d lose three of the most important people in my life.

With profound insight and balance Hum If You Don’t Know The Words by Bianca Marais explores the world of Apartheid South Africa, the Soweto Uprising and the aftermath for one Black woman searching for her daughter and one young white girl searching for understanding and what happens when their lives become forever bound together.

“You will bring Nomsa home?” he asks and I nod because I cannot speak. “You will come back?” I nod again. “Do you promise, Mama?”“Yes.” It is a strangled sob, a fire of emotion robbed of air, but it is a promise. I will bring Nomsa home.

Beauty is a Xhosa woman who must leave her two youngest children in the care of her village as she sets out to search for her eldest daughter, Nomsa, following the receipt of a letter warning of potential danger. Hoping for the best for her children, Beauty has supported Nomsa as she shed the shackles of village life to pursue an education- a rare thing for a black girl in rural South Africa. No longer beneath the watchful eye of her mother, Nomsa has become a part of something so much bigger than herself. Full of nerves and worry, Beauty sets out on this harrowing journey.

My journey will take me from this rural idyll where time stands still to a city that is rocked from below its foundations by the dynamite blasts used in the mining of gold, and assaulted from above by the fierce Highveld thunderstorms that tear across its sky. Almost a thousand kilometers stretch out between here and Soweto in a thread of dread and doubt, but I try not to think of the distance as I hold my suitcase away from my body to stop it from drumming into my thigh.

Beauty arrives in Soweto to find the school deserted and she fears she is too late. Racing through town she stumbles upon a sea of children, marching peacefully in protest of the introduction of the newly required Afrikaans curriculum. Frantically searching for her daughter, she hears shots ring out and children scream. She urgently moves from child to child hoping and fearing that she finds Nomsa; all the while holding the injured, comforting them as their end approaches, brought on too soon by this injustice.

Today was a big fucking deal, Jolene. Word is they’ve never seen an uprising like this before. The blacks are getting cheekier by the day, and the government is finding it harder and harder to control them. Today will just get the rest of them riled up. Do you want to live in a country with all the kaffirs running loose, doing whatever the hell they want, feeling like they’re entitled to help themselves? Soweto is only fifty kilometers away from here. That’s nothing!”

In what may as well be another world entirely, Robin, a young white girl who spends her days in Johannesburg recreating scenes from her favorite detective series, exists with a simplicity fitting to a white child- without a care in the world bigger than what her school mates and the neighborhood children are getting up to. With her daily needs satisfied by her Black housekeeper and nanny, Mabel, Robin is unruffled by the blatant racism perpetuated by her parents. She takes each of their positions at face value not understanding the history of inequality that made it so. Her world is as she believes it should be having known no different- that is until tragedy turns her world on its head.

All I knew of death was that it was a mysterious force that came for baby birds and hamsters and people like my Ouma. Dying was what happened to the sick or the weak or the old, and my parents were none of those things; they were young and strong and healthy.

Thrown into the arms of her single, irresponsible aunt, Robin struggles to make sense of this loss within the framework of her 10-year-old mind. When circumstance brings Beauty into her life, who is still desperately in search of Nomsa, Robin begins to see that the beliefs she was indoctrinated with may not truly fit in her heart. With resentment on both sides, their relationship starts out prickly but the sharpest edges are ground away through shared experiences and the unexpected love that grows between them.

More than anything, I wished Beauty could truly understand how much the past fifteen months I’d spent with her had changed me. In the darkness of my grief, she’d taken my hand and walked with me through the crucible . She’d brought love and life and color into my world, and I’d never see things in simple black and white again. She’d helped me realize that life wasn’t the kind of story that had a happy ending. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I’d come to believe that a story that ended happily was just a story that hadn’t ended yet.

The wisdom Beauty holds, and the gentle nature of her delivery, proves to be irreplaceable to Robin whose accidental humor and precocious nature cast her as the perfect character through which we learn countless invaluable lessons. Such lessons include the significance of prejudice, the importance of acceptance and the true meaning of love, which is something that all people deserve and where no disclaimer should exist.

Through the eyes of a clever, innocent white child and a brave, tenacious Black woman, Hum If You Don’t Know The Words, presents the oppressive inequality and turmoil of the violent South African past and the resilience of its people. Executed with impressive depth and a lighthearted style, the lessons found within will stay with you long after the last page is read.

I didn’t know then what the future would hold. I didn’t know that the story Beauty and I shared was far from over, nor did I know that the winding paths our lives would take—mine and Beauty’s and Nomsa’s—would go on to become so entangled that all these years later, I’m finding it impossible to pick apart the knots to separate them. But that’s another story for another time.

This book, ahh where to even begin.

In it, we follow two different perspectives, a nine year old girl Robin, whose parents were shot by activists, and Beauty, a Xhosa woman living in a village that comes to try to find her daughter, and ends up being the nanny for Robin. Their lives collide and tangle, and neither of them will ever be the same after their shared experiences.

This book is set in South African apartheid, and I don't have any expertise on how accurately this was researched. Although this book was a bit enjoyable, if you want to open your eyes more the all of the horrors of apartheid, I would direct you to Born a Crime by Trevor Noah


As a book that struggles with hard topics such as race, privilege, oppression, activism, etc. I thought that it had some solid passages where Beauty is trying to explain to Robin about how not all black people are the same "bad", how even though her parents were killed, she now has to deal with the fact that they were evidently racist. It's just an interesting journey of a nine year old who has had past good and bad experiences with black people, and how she comes to grapple with the loss of her parents.

Lots of things in the book were so unrealistic and so implausible. There were risky things that Robin did for redemption, which I personally didn't appreciate how it was played out. If you read the book, you'll know what I'm talking about because it's obvious that this would have never happened the way that it did.

The ending was also pretty unsatisfying, in the sense that the author left everything partially resolved. We have no way of knowing what exactly happened to either of the storyline and so it's not what I was waiting for nor was it what I expected. Overall, my rating scale is tipped over to the lower side of things considering the many lacks that I found with the story itself.

**Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.**

Hum If You Don't Know the Words is written by white South African writer Bianca Marais. Set during apartheid, the book opens in the days leading up to the Soweto student uprising, in which black schoolchildren are attacked and killed by the police while protesting the school curriculum. After the uprising, Robin, a 9-year-old white English girl, is left orphaned and Beauty, a 40-something Xhosa woman, is stuck far from home trying to find her missing daughter, who was deeply involved in the uprising. Amidst their individual tragedies, Beauty and Robin are thrown together when Robin's young aunt is unable (unwilling?) to give up her jetsetting lifestyle and job to raise her niece. This relationship will have some upsetting consequences for both on Beauty's quest to find her daughter.

This novel was beautifully written and is told from Beauty and Robin's points of view. Beauty is a very likable character and her emotions are easy to grasp from the beginning as she speaks lyrically of all that is befalling her. She has many words of wisdom, which are hard won from a hard life living in apartheid. Her quest to save her daughter shows what a strong and amazing woman she is, especially considering how dangerous her mission quickly becomes. She is also a fully rounded character. Robin is not as likable, but she is also only nine years old and trying to grasp a reality for which she has no point of reference. At the beginning, black people are merely servants to her, and her view of the racial divide is heavily influenced by her white family's upbringing. As she gets to know Beauty, she begins to grow and learn that maybe what her parents said wasn't really right and that maybe there is something wrong with the way her society divides the races. Her point of view was a bit harder for me to read at times, and it does weave back and forth between her child viewpoint, and the imposition of her adult thoughts throughout.

I'll admit that before I read this novel, I knew what apartheid was, but did not realize the full extent of the policies enacted during that period of time. It was hard for me to imagine living in a modern society so cut off from the rest of the world, but I know it happened. The ugliness of this society is not lost in this book either. Many characters, main and secondary, have to deal with various setbacks due to living in South Africa, including torture and other violence. There were, however, also moments of joy and happiness and this book gave me a roller coaster of emotion.

In addition to the themes and Beauty and Robin's viewpoints, secondary characters were also well-developed. There's Edith, a young woman who inherits guardianship of Robin and has no clue what she is doing (and is fairly unlikable most of the time). Her friends also begin to take care of Robin, and it is through their lives that we see additional incidences of discrimination. There's also Nomsa, Beauty's missing daughter, whose very absence makes her a pivotal character. What we learn of her we learn mainly from others, and it paints a pivotal portrait of a young woman who Beauty fears to lose forever. There's also Robin's friend Morrie, a young Jewish man who lives downstairs and becomes her friend. Their childish conversations, including many misunderstandings of meanings of words, were usually very funny and interesting.

I had one drawback in this novel, and that was the ending. I can't really explain why without giving a lot away, but I got a little lost in the last part of the book. It wasn't as enjoyable for me, and I felt like it was wrapped up too quickly in a very haphazard way. However, while I was upset about that in the moment, it doesn't take away from my recommendation of the book too much, considering how wonderfully written the rest of it was.
If you enjoy literary fiction about social topics, then this book is definitely for you. I appreciated the lyrical prose and character development throughout. I felt like everyone was a fully realized person, and I would love to know more about each and every character. Hum if You Don't Know the Words is out today from G. P. Putnam's Sons.

a beautifully crafted tribute to love and the bonds between people. Robin and Beauty share love and hope in a perilous time for both of them.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book, regrettably, this title falls into the category of a "Could Not Finish" book for me. I was unable to connect with the characters or storyline and am therefore unable to provide a review.

<blockquote>I despair that we are all becoming murderers, white and black alike, and that we will never be able to wipe this blood from our hands. I pray that I am wrong.</blockquote>
I loved these characters - Beauty and Robin yes, but also the rest of the cast - Edith, Victor and Morris. The amazing sense of humor throughout provide a much needed lighter side to the story. The writing is beautiful and honest. Written in alternating chapters, Beauty's centered and wise narration balances beautifully with Robin's capricious and naive account. The author does a brilliant job of showing us how horrible apartheid was by describing the effect on Beauty's daily life. I grew up in a mine community in South Africa, so this was like a trip down memory lane - the good and the bad. Hum is a book about the process of creating as well as the effects of prejudices, but it also shows how we can change these perceptions and behaviors. The only reason the book loses a star, is because the ending felt a bit rushed and unrealistic. I highly recommend Hum for an authentic look at 1970's SA.
The Story: Set in South Africa during Apartheid, the lives of two people collide and an unlikely bond is formed. Robin Conrad is a nine-year-old white girl living with her parents in Johannesburg. Beauty Mbali is a Xhosa woman in a rural village in the Bantu homeland of the Transkei who has been widowed and left to raise her three children. Divided by race, the two meet as a result of circumstances stemmed from the Soweto Uprising—a protest by black students ignites racial conflict in which Robin's parents are casualties, and Beauty's daughter goes missing.

Thanks so much to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this wonderful debut novel.

Do not miss this book when it is published next week. It's a must read and book clubs will love it. Its comparison to books such as The Help and The Secret Life of Bees is spot on - if you loved those books, you'll love this one. To think that it is a debut novel is all the more amazing.

The book is set in South Africa in the 1970s, when Apartheid rules. The story is told in two voices - Robin, a young white girl, growing up in relative privilege. She has a beloved Black maid, her father is a mine boss, and she loves her tomboy life. The race difference is just assumed and engrained in her world. Beauty is the other voice - a widow with two young boys at home in a rural village. Life is hard and she sent her 18 year old daughter out of the village and to Johannesburg for schooling. She gets word that Nomsa has gone missing and travels to find her. These two characters' lives intersect - Robin is living with her aunt and Beauty is hired to watch her. They try to create new lives and new bonds.

This is a stunning book - Robin's chapters are filled with humor and a view of the world through a child's eyes, while Beauty is such an amazing, positive soul who refuses to give up hope of finding her daughter.

The ending leaves hope that there will be another book to continue this story and I can't wait. Do not miss this book - it is inspirational.

I gave this book 3 stars - which is an average. For me, the first half of the book was 2 stars and the second half was 4 stars, it took a while for the two main characters - Robin, a young girl whose parents have been killed, and Beauty, a mother looking for her daughter - to settle in and become whole characters. Robin and Beauty meet halfway through the book, and that's when the story really gets started. The entire story is told from alternating points of view.

Robin, 9, has a pretty good life in the suburbs on Johannesburg - until her parents re murdered on the evening of the Soweto uprising (which started as a student protest and became much more in the nation's history). Beautys living in the Transkei villages, working as a teacher and caring for two sons. Her husband died in the coal mines and her daughter has been attending school in Soweto. Beauty travels to Soweto to bring her daughter home - only to enter the city on the day of the Uprising, and her daughter Nomsa becomes a warrior soldier. The plot unfolds as we see how the Uprising affects both women singularly - Robin, now an orphan, and Beauty, searching for her daughter. Eventually Beauty comes to take care of Robin while she remains in the city looking for her daughter.

I connected with Robin's character much more than Beauty's during the first half of the book. Her voice seemed real and genuine, while Beauty's voice was harder for me to connect with. It seemed that her life and story line moved much slower than Robin's did, and slowed the owner all pace of the book. Once the two characters met, the pace jump started as did the plot.

The relationship between Beauty and Robin is really the heart of the story. Robin struggles to adapt to life as an orphan, living with her aunt Edith, who never wanted to be a parent, beauty becomes the mother she needs. Beauty is missing her own children and Robin fulfills her misssing nurturing spirit. This relationship is not without conflict, of course, and the two women must find a way to meet their own needs while still maintaining their mutually beneficial relationship.

"Night settles swiftly. If you are vigilant, and not prone to distractions, you can almost feel the very moment daylight slips through your fingers and leaves you clutching the inky sap that is the sub-Saharan night. It is a sharp exhalation at the closing of day, a sigh of relief." That is South Africa. Unfortunately, South Africa could also be described during Apartheid as: "There is a river of blood in the street and the children are floating in it. They lie in unnatural shapes, limbs bent at awkward angles. Some of them are face-down, drowning, while others lie on their backs gazing up at the sky; they are human debris swept along in a flood of distraction."

This was a moving story told from the alternating points of view of two South Africans in 1976/7 who were trying to maintain their families. Robin Conrad was a nine year old white girl whose parents were killed in Boksburg, Johannesburg, South Africa by some black men after a peaceful student demonstration turned into a riot. Robin was taken in by her aunt Edith who was her only relative. Edith was a flight attendant who did not easily give up her child-free life. Beauty Mbali was a black 49 year old teacher who had to leave her two young sons, Luxolo and Khwezi, behind to try to rescue her teenaged daughter, Nomsa, in Johannesburg where she had gone to be educated in Soweto. Nomsa disappeared after the riots and Beauty refused to go home until she found her. Beauty didn't have permission to be in Johannesburg and didn't have the proper identity papers, so she needed to find work taking care of Robin while Edith traveled.

I liked learning a little about life in South Africa during Apartheid. The Afrikaners had not gotten over losing the Boer War to the British, who had imprisoned Afrikaners in concentration camps. The British and Afrikaners may not have liked each other very much, but they were united in their hatred of blacks, Jews and homosexuals. As Robin spent time with Edith and Beauty she learned that blacks, Jews and homosexuals are actually human beings too, which seems to have been a difficult concept for most South Africans.

The chapters from the point of view of Beauty seemed slightly more realistic as she risked her life to relentlessly search for her daughter and at the same time developed a loving relationship with Robin. The Robin chapters were most believable when they dealt with her grief, loneliness, fears and love of Beauty. They were less believable when she turned into a miniature Nancy Drew and carried out her own investigations. Overall however, I really liked these characters, so much so that I want to know what happened to them after the book ended.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

While this book is based on tragic events, the author did a good job of making it beautiful, too. The novel has more than one main story line to follow, although one is focused on more than the other. If you are familiar with any of the events that this book is centered around in South Africa, then you will probably go into this knowing that some parts of it will be difficult to read. That said, this is an engaging, interesting book with a lot to recommend it.

I felt horrible for what the characters had to go through, but the author was also good at helping the reader retain hope that something might change for them in the future. This book prompted me to learn more about the actual events the book mentions and I found there was a lot that I didn't know. It's great when a fiction novel can be so realistic that it makes you feel things on the deepest level, and this book certainly did that for me.

Emotionally moving and thought provoking, this is a book that will stay with you once you finish reading it. I believe this is the kind of book that you will want others to read and would be a great choice to share with reading groups and book clubs. You won't run out of things to discuss once you finish reading this.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher, provided through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

I was too young during the Apartheid years to want to follow what was happening in the news, but I do remember hearing about it. Still, I had little idea of what the people of South Africa were experiencing and little knowledge of the African culture. Author Bianca Marias brings the events of Apartheid during the 1970’s into focus with a bittersweet story that gives readers perspective from several viewpoints.

With Beauty, readers are given a window into what it means to be an educated black woman in South Africa. I was surprised to find that she was not allowed to travel out of her village unless she was working or had papers giving permission. Also, blacks were under a curfew and could be arrested if found on the streets after curfew. The most shocking of all was what happened when an ambulance was called during a health crisis and the paramedics just left the patient without treating or transporting them to a hospital simply because the patient was black.

Robin, a ten-year old who has lost both parents to a brutal murder, is trying to navigate her new life as an orphan while living with her aunt Edith. Edith is a flight attendant and party girl who chose the single, childless lifestyle and is having problems adjusting to the responsibility of caring for a child.

Through Robin’s eyes, readers see a more equal and compassionate world. With the innocence of the child, readers are shown what people the world over have yet to learn. Where Beauty is the character that is steady as a rock, Robin is the character who brings the fireworks to the story. With Robin’s mischievous, yet loving personality, she makes thing happen in a big way.

Marias has tackled a tough subject and managed to bring both tears and smiles to readers as she gives an account what it was like to live through apartheid in South Africa. I enjoyed the book and it has prompted me to want to read more about South Africa.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for allowing me to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Just before starting this book I thought that the publishers really should have released this book on 16 June, which is Youth Day in South Africa, commemorating the Soweto Uprising. However now that I am done I realise that the book didn’t really focus on this event, but mostly used it as a point of reference for the story.

There are two narrators, Beauty, a Xhosa school teacher who comes to Johannesburg looking for her daughter who participated in the Soweto protests. She later finds out that not only did Nomsa participate in this fateful march but she was one of the leaders.

Casting one of the narrators as a child adds the feeling of innocence in a country where white people were anything but innocent. Robin is a 9-year-old white girl living with her sister Cat and parents in a mining community in Boksburg. When her parents get brutally killed on the night of 16 June her whole life unravels.
I found Beauty’s narrative wonderful, engaging and poignant. Describing the difficult choices a mother must make in a country that does not allow her to keep her family together.

Robin’s story also had some touching moments but her part of the narration was mostly used to create humour.

For some reason, I expected this to be a more serious book, perhaps because of the time period chosen. The Soweto uprising and Umkonto we Sizwe was a turbulent time in SA for all races.

I live in Johannesburg and the antics that Robin got up to towards the end of the story is not only very improbable but borders on the ridiculous. Because of this the story lost a star from me. BUT I think if future readers go into this story wanting to learn a little about this period in SA with the understanding that this is meant to be a feel-good tale then I think they will enjoy it.

This author has undeniable talent and I will most definitely read her next book.

In 1970's South Africa, Robin is waiting to turn ten. White and privileged, she knows little about the world around her. When her parents are killed, Robin's life is turned upside down. Beauty, a Xhosa woman, travels to Johannesburg after receiving a letter than her daughter is in trouble. Arriving amidst a riot, she looks frantically for her daughter, unable to find her. Beauty is forced to hide, because she does not have travel papers. Robin's Aunt, a stewardess, hires Beauty to look after Robin, hoping the arrangement will suite all of them.

I thought this was a fascinating story. I have read very few books that take place during this era and found the black and white relationships and dichotomy interesting. I did think that Robin came across as much younger than nine. The book also needed an epilogue, it seemed unfinished. Overall, well worth reading, highly recommended.

What a wonderful book, so well written with a very engaging story line.
The story takes place in South Africa, during the Apartheid regime 1975-1976, also at the time of the Soweto uprising.
It is a story about differences, whether about race, color, sexual orientation or religion. It is also about similarities, in love, acceptance, trust and friendships, a story which is comprised of wonderful and engaging characters, who will make you feel many different feelings.
The main characters are Robin, a young white girl who has lost her parents and must go to live with her aunt in Johannesburg, and that of Beauty a smart black educator, who cannot find her daughter after the Soweto uprising. These two come together through each of their own needs, and a beautiful friendship is formed, yet also at times their fears get in the way.
This book besides its serious themes, has a lot of humor which had me laughing at times.
This book was hard to put down and these characters will stay with me for a long time.
I want to thank NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC of the book.

1976 South Africa, Apartheid regime. Robin, a white girl 9 years old lives with her parents, her imaginary twin sister and their black maid Mabel in Boksburg, Johannesburg in a white neighborhood. One night her parents are brutally killed by blacks after the Soweto student uprising. Robin is left to live with her single aunt Edith, who really is not too eager to have her niece live with her. She has her job as a stewardess, always on the road.
Beauty Mbali is a black educated teacher living in Transkei with her two sons. Her husband and one son are dead and her daughter left to study in Soweto. Beauty gets a letter that summons her to Soweto because her daughter is in danger. She leaves her sons behind and takes off for Soweto, where she witnesses the student uprising and the death left behind. However, she doesn't find her daughter and decides to stay in Soweto until her daughter is found.
Eventually Beauty is hired to look after Robin and the two form a loving bond.
I found Robin's character sympathetic, she suffered terrible loss when her parents were killed and their maid abandoned her. She tries to cope as best she can, Cat her imaginary twin helping her along the way. On the other hand, I found Robin's actions and decisions too far fetched for a 9 year old, especially toward the end which was totally contrite and unbelievable. The two stars off are mainly because of the ending.
I am glad I read this book, I didn't know too much about the terrible prejudices in South Africa, not only against blacks, but Jews and homosexuals as well. Thanks NetGalley, Penguin Random House and the author Bianca Marais for the advanced copy.

"Almost everyone who mattered most to me was in the same room.... Black, white, homosexual, heterosexual, Christian, Jew, Englishman, Afrikaner, adult, child, man, woman: we were all there together, but somehow that eclectic jumble of labels was overwritten by the one classification that applied to every person there: 'friend.' "

This book was gorgeous. The story weaved love and loss in alternative points of view seamlessly through rich characters and a colorful landscape. It is told through the eyes of Robin, a 9 year old white orphan and Beauty, a 50 year old black woman who is searching for her missing daughter following the riots during Aparthied in South Africa. How circumstance, love and loss brings them together when they need it most. Beautiful book.

It wasn't planned, but I happened to read this in tandem with the audiobook 'Born a Crime: Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood' by Trevor Noah. The two books made an excellent 'book flight' for those readers interested in a similar reading experience.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Random House for the arc in return for an honest review. Available July 11, 2017.

4.5 but rounding up because I enjoyed it soooo much.

The setting: Apartheid-era South Africa/Soweto, 1976.
Robin, a 9-year old white girl, orphaned when her parents are killed by blacks.

Edith, Robin's flight attendant aunt who loves Elvis Presley, names her parrot after him, and brings Robin to live with her.

Beauty, a Xhosa woman who [eventually] takes care of Robin.
Beauty's teenage daughter, Nomsa, who goes off with the rebels.

And other, important characters: the Goldmans [Jewish neighbors, and their 12-year old son, Morris/Morrie], Maggie, the white angel, gay men, and more

Told alternately through Robin's and Beauty's voices; this tale is often heartbreaking--yet, interspersed with humor. A story of apartheid, heartbreak/loss, and love. There's a lot to absorb: black, white, Afrikaaners, kaffirs, Jews, gays.

Naturally, Robin is bereft when she loses both her parents--as well as Mabel--the black woman who took care of her [Mabel returns to her home]. Robin turns more often to Cat, her "twin" [a figment of her imagination].

The language is beautifully descriptive.

"...the terrain of my own life changed so utterly that I became a foreigner in it"
"Dark hairs sprout like spiders on the pale flesh of his fingers."
"it seemed that while I'd been leaking sorrow, Edith had been damming the flood of her self-pity."

Humor--often in conjunction with Morrie.
"what's a concubine?... It's a small animal that shoots quills out at people. Everyone know that."
"do you know that Morrie's been circumscribed"... It means a rabbit cut his forefathers off, which means he has no willy. Do you think it will grown back again?"

"where's her horse? Edith said she'd be riding in one a horse" [i.e. the high horse she rode in on]

And so much more.

The story captured me from the start and I wanted to keep on reading to see how it would turn out. I most loved the developing relationship between Robin and Beauty and how it played out in their circumstances. Not a spoiler alert but the only "spoiler" for me was I thought the language/thought process [Robin's voice] at the end was far too mature for a 10-year old [she'd had a birthday].

Still, a wholehearetd recommendation.

This is honestly one of the best books I've read in a very long time. The story was set in Africa in the sixties. There are two main characters, one black and one white. There is a lot of racial conflict and certain parts of the city of Johannesburg that blacks are not allowed in without paperwork. The young white girl loses her parents and has to go live with her unmarried aunt who is a airline stewardess. Because of her job she has to have someone love in with them and she hired a black lady but it has to be kept secret. If anyone found out she would be arrested. I don't want to give any more of the story away but this is truly a wonderful book. I give it a well deserved five stars.

This novel of apartheid in Johannesburg, South Africa attempts to explore the nuances of racism in that system through a story that takes place in the aftermath of the 1976 Soweto uprising. in 1976, white police officers opened fire into a protest by black schoolchildren. Robin, a 9 year old white girl, loses both of her parents in the aftermath and her aunt hires Beauty, a black mother who is looking for her daughter who has gone missing since the uprising. An important piece of history to be sure, the author draws complex characters. However, her writing seems to try too hard to be fair, even, and even politically correct and the story never really gripped me and often the long descriptive passages seemed irrelevant to the overarching story.

I received an advanced copy of this novel from the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks!