Out of Shadows by Jason Wallace

"If I stood you in front of a man, pressed the cold metal of a gun into your palm and told you to squeeze the trigger, would you do it?”
“No sir.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course, sir. No ways!”
“What if I then told you we’d gone back in time and his name was Adolf Hitler? Would you do it then? Would you?"


Its Zimbabwe 1980’s, the apartheid has just been broken and Robert and his family move in to enable his father to access his new job. As soon as Robert joins school he is constantly teased for his English heritage. Forced to make a decision between his morals and fitting in, Robert befriends Ivan, the class bully. Little did Robert know that this decision could affect the peace that Mandela had worked so hard for. For the war may have stopped for everyone else, but Ivan is still in the fight.

I really enjoyed this book as it gives a real insight on to what it was really like after the apartheid and how although peace had been declared, within the confines of peoples own communities the war had just begun.

The book is written from Robert’s point of view which, although it adds some depth into what he is feeling about Ivan, I think that if we could read Ivan’s point of view we would understand his character a bit more. Apart from that I can’t fault this book in any way as it flowed easily and really made you empathise with Robert at certain parts, especially when they bury Nelson. By reading all his conflicting emotions I found it made me feel closer to him as a reader. I think that Wallace showed a very good understanding of his characters and the plot was very well laid out.

Overall I would recommend this book to anyone between the ages of 12 to 16 as although I found it quite easy to read, the political aspects of this book may be too mature for younger readers. I give this book 8/10!

Imogen