Many Stones

Berry, the main character in this story, is one, stroppy American adolescent with a lot to be stroppy about. Unwillingly in the company of her insensitive, estranged father, she is visiting South Africa in order to commemorate the death of her older sister, casually murdered while she was working for a charity. So much, so bleak, but the sheer intensity of this story finally gets through, which is more than Berry’s hapless father ever manages to do so far as his daughter is concerned. Adolescent readers anxious to hone their own techniques of dumb insolence and cutting asides will find plenty to learn from here. But they will also discover something about the nature of guilt and depression within a family context, and the way that history is currently being made in a country most will know little about.