Hymie also joins Peekay in several scams and becomes his boxing manager. When he wins a scholarship to an exclusive secondary school, Peekay befriends Hymie Levy (Morrie in US editions), a wealthy loner and the school's "token Jew." Drawn to help the downtrodden Peekay and Hymie, found a school for Black South Africans. His precocious talents are nurtured by a series of teachers, mentors, and friends, who introduce him to a world of magic, myth, and inspiration. Later he adopts the name P.K.-or Peekay-the name he calls himself throughout the bookĭespite the hardships, Peekay manages to become a gifted student, musician, and boxer. It is there he is given the name"Pisskop," a derogatory term used by Afrikaaners during the Boer War. As the only English-speaking student, he is bullied and beaten by an older student known as The Judge. When his mother suffers a breakdown, the boy is taken to his grandfather's farm where he is raised by his beloved Zulu nanny, Mary Mandoma.Įventually the youngster is sent to an Afrikaans boarding school. There, a white South African boy is born. In 1939, as Hitler casts his enormous shadow across the world, the seeds of apartheid take root in South Africa. Based on Bryce's own childhood experiences in South Africa this is his debut novel celebrating the power of one individual to profoundly change a life.
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