‘My poor little girl,’ she said softly. ‘You are so young. You still see everything only in black and white. As you grow older you will know that nothing is so clear cut.’

Hannah had felt all her rage and frustration exploding in her head. Her eyes and her throat hurt with the effort of containing it. She was afraid of what else she might say if she stayed.

‘You keep your blinkers on, Ma, if you like. But I’m sick of this place, sick of everything. I’m going out.’

Lottie had not followed her, and she was glad. She was ashamed now of her outburst, but she had been pushed into it, she thought resentfully. Jan had always been her hero, strong and capable. Telling her what was right. But that woman had said her father was a criminal, a violent man, and no one would tell her what he had done. So, if Marina was right, how could Ma stay with him? How could she sleep in his bed, sit at the same table with him? Hannah had tried to convince herself that Camilla’s mother had been lying for her own malicious purposes, but the moment she had looked into her father’s face, she had known in her heart of hearts that he had done something very bad. And she was afraid. Afraid of him, afraid for him, and for them all. What was this going to do to them in the end? And now there was all that awful stuff she had said to her mother about Piet. Ach man, she really loved her brother. Why could she not get rid of this corrosive jealousy and be glad for him?

She wished that Sarah was here. Sarah would have brightened up the gloom – she could always make people laugh. God, how she missed her friends, wondered what they were doing, longed to be with them. Sarah’s last letter had been full of outrageous comments about her lecturers and her fellow students, and complaints about the Irish weather, and how lucky Hannah was to be out in the veld with the tropical sun beating down on her back, eating mangos and smelling the dust and the wildlife of Africa on the morning wind. Nobody had ever even heard of a mango or a pawpaw in Dublin. Such ignorance! Sarah had said she was going to London at Easter to meet up with Camilla, who was consorting with the nobility and famous people, who was famous herself with her picture in magazines and newspapers. And they hoped to catch up with Piet too, if he could get down to the swinging city from Scotland. Sarah was going to visit Carnaby Street and the nightclubs where groups like the Rolling Stones had started.