book cover

Out of Shadows

by Jason Wallace

Interest age: 13+
Reading age: 12+

Published by Andersen Press, 2010

  • Around the world
  • Coming-of-age
  • Historical

About this book

Back in the early 1980s, Robert Jacklin doesn't want to move to the newly independent Zimbabwe with his parents, nor does he want to be shipped off to boarding school, but he has no choice in either decision.

In the aftermath of a brutal war, raw and disturbing memories drive the lives of most of those around him, both black and white, and Robert finds himself confused and lonely as his home life quietly disintegrates.

As the violence and corruption in his adopted country become impossible to ignore, he is forced into a decision which has consequences he could never have foreseen.

An expert and disturbing examination of the meaning of morality and of the comprehensive and complex legacy of conflict and injustice. Unsuitable for younger readers.

About the author

Jason Wallace is related to Tolkein and a descendent of one of the first International English cricketers, and also of the world-renowned Victorian circus owner 'Lord' George Sanger. He was born in Cheltenham in 1969 but moved to London after his parents split up. Aged 12 his life was turned upside down when his mother remarried and the family emigrated to Zimbabwe. It was this experience in a tough boarding school during the aftermath of the war for independence that forms the foundation of his incredible novel. And he did actually meet Robert Mugabe when he visited his school. Jason is currently a web designer, living in South West London.

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