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The Safest Place You Know by Mark Winkler (first published in 2016 by Penguin Random House South Africa)
Seventeen-year-old Hennie finally makes the decision to leave home and escape his abusive father forever. Carrying only the letter from his sister Rose and the money she sent, the loner leaves the drought stricken Kimberly and makes his way to Cape Town even though he has no idea what he’ll do if he ever gets there.
Along the way he meets a young mute girl, who latches on to him.
Hennie makes it as far as Paarl with the girl in tow. When he finds himself knocking on the door of a wine estate for work, he meets the brand new and fiercely resentful heiress Antoinette Maidenstone Basset.
While both Hennie and Antoinette try and make sense of the demons in their pasts, they find an uncanny kind of fellowship with each other. This is where the story truly begins and their letting go of the past and moving forward gains momentum.
Local author Mark Winkler tells his story with such sensitivity and insight that it’s hard not to lose yourself completely in the characters. I also really loved all the references to small dorpies of the Cape and the short punchy chapters made it an easy read.
Although he explores some of the most tragic narratives of surviving broken family life in the context of apartheid South Africa, the story ends with a sense of hope that everything happens for a reason and it all works out in the end.
Mark Winkler is also the author of Wasted and An Exceptionally Simple Theory (of Absolutely Everything). If you enjoy thought provoking books like The Children Act by Ian McEwan or the The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini then you will love The Safest Place You Know.
Visit Cindi Page’s website for more book reviews.
Purchase a copy of The Safest Place You Know from Takealot.com.
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