Writing as a man looking back on his childhood allows Peake to feed in glimpses of the outside world to the sheltered private school setting, and it works remarkably well - an innocence of childhood shattered in a way that feels realistic in the power of the emotion that Peake conveys - always with intelligent perception. Thoroughly compelling and unexpectedly moving, ''North Facing'' is a fascinating portrait of both a childhood and a country. Many thanks to the publishers for the copy.
For further reading, I recommend [[A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale]] - another read that blends themes of discovery and sexuality with a transporting sense of time and place. For more about South Africa, we can recommend [[A British Lion in Zululand by William Wright]]. It's set in a slightly earlier time, but you might enjoy [[The Rowing Lesson by Anne Landsman]]. We can also recommend [[The Dubious Salvation Of Jack V. by Jacques Strauss]] and [[The Day of the Orphan by Dr Nat Tanoh]].
{{amazontext|amazon=0995590028}}