HALLEY'S COMET

Three teens from different backgrounds share a secret and form life-changing friendships.

Pete is a 15-year-old White boy in 1986 South Africa whose father is a manager at a coal mine. One night, when out for a run, Pete crosses paths with Petrus, a Black farmhand’s son who happens to be in the same area. Witnessing a crime in progress, they save Sarita, an Indian girl whose family owns a shop, from a violent sexual assault by White farmer Rudie. Over a period of months, Rudie blackmails them, threatening violence against Pete’s mother, saying he will reveal that the boys were trespassing on a territorial White landowner’s property, and suggesting they were engaging in interracial gay sex. These events take place in the final years of the apartheid era as protests to bring about changes in society are increasing in urgency. Although Pete’s perspective is the primary one, the bonds between the three friends open their eyes to the different realities of the segregated worlds they come from and broaden their minds to embrace new possibilities. From the opening pages, Barnard sets an intriguing tone and fast pace. What follows is a thrilling, tension-filled story of friendship, love, radicalism, and justice that will resonate with many readers, although younger readers unfamiliar with the setting will benefit from learning more about the history and context.

A heart-wrenching coming-of-age story.