An Italian girl is killed in a South African boarding school by colleagues who resent her superiority. The girl is superior in looks, class and--the ultimate humiliation--in sports. She becomes the favorite of the lesbian swimming coach, which arouses more jealousy.
A novel about a small boy's triumph over cruelty and loneliness to become a famous boxer. Set in the turbulent 1940's in Southern Africa, it is an epic of survival in the best of dramatic traditions.