In London, Harry Seaton stood in the hallway of his house, staring at the wall of photographs. He had another to add to the collection. He’d decided that the picture of Lindi and Kagiso arm in arm, taken a few weeks earlier in Joubert Park, should go right next to the one of the family taken in the week before they’d all left South Africa. Harry tapped the hook into the wall. He slipped the newly framed print over it and stood back, looking at the two photographs side by side. In his mind there was a sort of symmetry to them: a relationship begun in the old country and cemented in the new one. A friendship that transcended time and place. There was enough truth in that. Another photo, another story.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Several people read this novel in its various stages. Milton Nkosi and Steve Lenahan in Johannesburg, friends from a time when South Africans were first working out what to do with their freedom, have helped to give this story its authenticity. One of them black, the other white, they grew up in different South Africas but come Freedom Day they shared a passionate hope in the new country. I first knew Kamil Naicker as a child when her parents were working clandestinely towards an end to apartheid. Kamil is one of freedom’s children and now, as an academic and writer, her understanding of the challenges facing her generation made her comments on this book invaluable. Sophie Raworth, a newsroom colleague turned stalwart friend, put her talents as a journalist and bookworm at my disposal. Richard Allen, who has known me since our days in school, was my one-man focus group. I was happy and relieved to hear that he kept turning the pages.

I am indebted to Hannah Knowles, Senior Commissioning Editor at Canongate, for listening to the voices in this novel and deciding to let them be heard. She’s been a supportive and inspiring editor whose interventions have improved this book.

I am grateful to my copy-editor, Hazel Orme, who combined an eye for detail with an enthusiasm for the narrative.

A huge thank you to my agent, Maggie Hanbury, who has guided my excursions into the world of publishing for twenty years and more. This is my first work of fiction and she has supported me every step of the way.

Frances Robathan has lived with these characters from the moment they started to form in my mind and has helped to shape them. She has done so with her usual grace and generosity.

‘Riveting . . . grim and gritty’
Herald

‘Gleeful, romping . . . a great piece of storytelling’
Big Issue

‘Terrific crime fiction’
Sunday Times