Cirrus@Austlit

'Set during the apartheid era in South Africa, a series of murders brings a divided community together. When the families of school friends Pumla and Nandipha move to the new Estate on the outskirts of the city, there is no school for them to attend. While their parents work on the farms or up in the main houses, and only after they have completed their chores for the day, these girls visit each other to practice the schoolwork they remember. Everything changes on the day Pumla meets someone on the bush path on the way to her friend’s house. Kate and Robert, acutely aware of their privilege, dream of a brighter future and dare to build a farm school for the children of the workers. While Thabo investigates the murder suspects, Zom gets a job constructing the new school building. Nandipha and her friends can’t wait to start school again, but the murders continue. Uncomfortable truths are revealed and lives are shattered. The oppressiveness of the time is contrasted with the warmth of new friendships and new opportunities. This is the story of the many characters that went against a system designed to divide them, and in doing so united the community towards a common goal.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.