Frankie and Stankie by Barbara Trapido

Description

Dinah and her sister Lisa are growing up in 1950’s South Africa, where racial laws are tightening. They are two little girls from a dissenting liberal family. Big sister Lisa is strong and sensible, while Dinah is weedy and arty.

As the apparatus of repression rolls on, Dinah finds her own way, escaping into rewarding friendships. Then there’s the minefield of boys and university and finally, there’s marriage and voluntary exile in London. As we follow Dinah’s journey through childhood and adolescence, we enter into one of the darker passages of twentieth-century history.

Balancing darkness and light with marvellous dexterity, this is Barbara Trapido at the top of her form – vibrant, profound and, as always, irresistible.