Synopses & Reviews
Sade is slipping her English book into her
schoolbag when her Mama screams. Two sharp
cracks splinter the air.
"Mama mi?" She whispersTwelve-year-old Sade's journalist father is a vocal critic of the corrupt government in Nigeria. When Sade's mother is murdered, her family sees in bloody detail the violent risks that come with exposing the truth.
Her father arranges for Sade and her younger brother to be smuggled to their uncle in London for safety. On the streets of London, the plans fall apart and they are abandoned, passed from foster home to foster home. They try to contact their uncle but he is missing. Then they learn that their father has escaped to London to find them -- but he will be sent back to Nigeria, unless Sade can find a way to tell the world what happened to her family.
Chosen by young readers as the recipient of England's prestigious Smarties Silver Medal, Beverly Naidoo's The Other Side Of Truth explores the issues of family, exile, and freedom with the same eloquence and stunning realism of her award-winning Journey To Jo'Burg.
Review
“Vivid portrayal of complex people caught in complex webs using their culture for strength in a time of need.” Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
After their mother's murder, Sade and her younger brother are smuggled out of Nigeria and sent to London, where they live in foster homes. Their father escapes to England to join them -- but he will be sent back to Nigeria unless Sade can find a way to tell the world what happened to her family. Beverley Naidoo's new novel explores the issues of family, exile, and freedom with eloquence and stunning realism.
About the Author
Beverly Naidoo grew up in South Africa under the apartheid system. An active resister to apartheid, she lived in her home country until departing to study at the University of York in England. There she began writing in exile and in 1985 published her first children's book, the award-winning
Journey to Jo'burg, which was dedicated to her nanny's two daughters who died from diptheria because only white people were inoculated at the time.
Journey To Jo'burg was banned in South Africa until 1991.
Beverly Naidoo has taught primary and secondary school in London and worked as an Advisor for English and Cultural Diversity in Dorset. She has a Ph.D. in exploring issues of racism with young people through literature and works tirelessly to promote children's entitlement to grow up free from racism and injustice. Her newest novel is The Other Side Of Truth, for which she won an Arts Council of England Writer's Award in 1999 for work-in-progress as well as the Smarties Silver Medal in 2000 and the Library Association's prestigious Carnegie Medal.