Like Water in Wild Places

by Pamela Jooste.

(Black Swan, £6.99)

Conrad Bosman is waiting for a new baby to be born. The new baby will be his brother, or maybe it will be a girl, and he will have a sister.

He doesn't really mind which, but his father does. Jack Bosman wants another son badly; so much so he has already chosen the baby's name. He is totally unprepared for the little girl that he is presented with. Beatrice Marie is instantly hated by her father, and adored by her brother.

The two children grow up in a divided house, full of ghosts and secrets. The worst secret for the children to deal with is the way their father beats their mother.

At night, sharing a forbidden

bed, they comfort one another when the arguing and fighting begins.

His mother, aware of the affect on the children seeks him out and begs him to take care of his little sister. It is a burden he accepts readily, and which carries through from childhood to maturity.

Jack Bosman is one of the last of the game hunters; a brutal, bullish, man's man.

He insists that his son will grow up to be of similar stature in the community, and that means learning to hunt, and to that end he puts his son's education in the matter of the land into the hands of an old bushman, Bastiaan.

Bastiaan teaches him about the beasts and the birds, but also inculcates in him a philosophy which will remain for ever.

As the two children grow older, their love for one another does not diminish, and although Conrad seems to conform, it is his sister Beeky who is defiant, not only of her father, but of the establishment that promotes apartheid.

This is a beautifully crafted book, full of images and character. Pamela Jooste has followed her book Frieda and Min with a cracker.

Annie Dendy