Out of Shadows

Robert’s father accepts a job at the British Embassy in Zimbabwe, and Robert is enrolled in one of the country’s most elite boys’ boarding schools. Newly integrated, the school is a microcosm of the horrible problems faced by the struggling new country in the wake of a bloody civil war. The white boys want their old country back; they torment the black Africans and wreak havoc among themselves. Robert must make careful alliances. Joining the hostile white boys will protect him from the worst brutality, but it will also make him complicit in their crimes. Robert’s decision to join the ranks of the more powerful has a devastating effect on his conscience and emerging manhood.