Halley's Comet

by Hannes Barnard

Overview

Pete de Lange must survive as a teenager in a small Natal town during the 1980s, together with his new-found friends, Sarita and Petrus. In a country marked by turmoil and racial conflict, this is not as easy as it seems. Pete and his friends witnessed a horrendous crime, and the perpetrator is on their case. Will justice prevail? In between all of this, Pete must try to make the first rugby team and win the heart of his high-school crush, Renate. This is an excellent Bildungsroman, full of emotion and nostalgia, set in a troubled country where doing the right thing was not always easy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781776354818
Publisher:	Penguin Random House South Africa
Publication date:	02/01/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	344
File size:	814 KB
Age Range:	17 - 18 Years

About the Author

Hannes Barnard is the youngest of three brothers and the son of a preacher. Between 2002 and 2014 he lived and worked in England, mostly as a project manager in construction. After that he worked for two years in the Seychelles. Hannes and his wife returned to South Africa in 2017. He is now focusing on writing on a full-time basis. Halley se komeet, his debut novel, was published in 2019.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“As reader, I was completely blown away by the power of this story. Not only is this an important text, but one that, due to its honesty and thematic reach, makes a significant contribution to the genre.” —Louis Esterhuizen, poet and editor

“With gripping action and immense heartbreak, Halley’s Comet yanks readers out of their comfort zone and into the unlikely friendship of a privileged white South African sixteen-year-old, Pete, a black farmworker’s son, Petrus, and an Indian store owner’s daughter, Sarita. We watch with bated breath as Pete questions and defies the inhumanity of Apartheid that tugs at him like a black hole’s gravity. Hannes Barnard delivers an indelible exploration of the importance of empathy in seeing color without seeing inferiority.” —Sonia Patel, author of William C. Morris Award finalist Rani Patel In Full Effect

“Halley’s Comet, the debut novel by Hannes Barnard, is a coming-of-age story that will take young readers (and older ones) on a gripping ride to the 1980s and the social and political expanse of the time.” — Leana Lategan, former Head Language Expert at National Afrikaans Literary Museum

Editorial Reviews

The romanticism of the comet is a brilliant metaphor for the search for hope and miracles in the midst of illusions being stripped away.” —Jonathan Amid, Netwerk24

“Halley’s Comet is an outstanding coming-of-age novel with believable characters and strong storyline. The author describes that era of the South African history with particular skill. This book cuts deep, very deep. The end is momentous, but it takes the reader to dark and troubled times before offering an end that is likely to leave even the toughest reader in tears.” —DEKAT Magazine (South Africa)

“This novel, about the slow blooming of love and friendship in a dusty mining town in South Africa made me think of a tough little weed that grows between concrete: it’s tenacious, defiant and hopeful. It’s also a cracking good story.” — Bridget Krone, author of Small Mercies

“A thrilling, tension-filled story of friendship, love, radicalism, and justice that will resonate with many readers” —Kirkus Reviews

“With a sprinkling of the original Afrikaans and countless contextual details – places, brands, music in the background, food, drink, and of course the search for Halley’s Comet itself – Barnard transports readers back to a specific period in time, one that may be familiar to older readers who were teenagers looking for Halley’s Comet themselves, or one that young adults today can explore and reflect on for the first time. This YA story is a crossover novel that is bound to stay with readers – young and old – long after they finish it!” — World Kid Lit Blog

"5 Works of World Literature for Teen Readers" —Kirkus

From the Publisher

2021-10-13
Three teens from different backgrounds share a secret and form life-changing friendships.

Pete is a 15-year-old White boy in 1986 South Africa whose father is a manager at a coal mine. One night, when out for a run, Pete crosses paths with Petrus, a Black farmhand’s son who happens to be in the same area. Witnessing a crime in progress, they save Sarita, an Indian girl whose family owns a shop, from a violent sexual assault by White farmer Rudie. Over a period of months, Rudie blackmails them, threatening violence against Pete’s mother, saying he will reveal that the boys were trespassing on a territorial White landowner’s property, and suggesting they were engaging in interracial gay sex. These events take place in the final years of the apartheid era as protests to bring about changes in society are increasing in urgency. Although Pete’s perspective is the primary one, the bonds between the three friends open their eyes to the different realities of the segregated worlds they come from and broaden their minds to embrace new possibilities. From the opening pages, Barnard sets an intriguing tone and fast pace. What follows is a thrilling, tension-filled story of friendship, love, radicalism, and justice that will resonate with many readers, although younger readers unfamiliar with the setting will benefit from learning more about the history and context.

A heart-wrenching coming-of-age story. (glossary) (Fiction. 14-adult)

Kirkus Reviews