The Other Side of Truth- Beverley Naidoo

My first encounter with Beverley Naidoo was Chain of Fire which I read many years ago. I was mesmerized; partly because of the fierce quality of her writing; partly because my husband grew up in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and also in Jo’burg. We have close friends who regularly go back to South Africa and tell us what it is still really like over there. The Other Side of Truth is a story from Nigeria about an episode in this country’s violent history. Twelve-year old Sadie and her brother Femi are the children of a journalist who believes in wriring the truth; even if unpopular and dangerous. Unfortunately, as he is targeted by the corrupt military governmnet, their mother is shot and killed. Faced with the brutal acknowledgemnet that his work has endangered his family, their father smuggles them out of Nigeria. In London, they are to meet up with their uncle, who has mysteriously disappeard, and abandoned by the woman who travelled with them, they end up entering the system for refugee children. terrified to speak the truth, Sade gives out false names and Femi withdraws deep within himself. Naidoo does an excellent job of portaying the emotions and anxieties of the children and through Sade’s flashbacks, allowing us to participate in the horror that they have come out of. Although this story took place in the early 1990’s, as we continue to be bombarded by stories of life in various countires of Africa, we feel that it could still be a story happening today. recently, there have been a fair number of novels written which give us a and our students a greater global awareness. I will be reviewing more of these in the upcoming weeks.