White Ravens’98/South Africa/64393
Beake, Lesley
Jakey ‹ Proper name ›Cape Town: Tafelberg, 1997. 132pp
ISBN 0-624-03566-2
Death - Grief - Family violence - Friendship - Suicide attempt - South
Africa/History 1994 - 
Race relations - Alzheimer’s disease
After his beloved stepfather is victim of a random street murder, Jakey and
his mother move to a middle-class neighborhood where his mother has
become the housekeeper of an older widow who is beginning to suffer
from Alzheimer’s disease. Still in weak health from his grief, Jakey takes
lessons at home from this warm-hearted, independent woman. And Jakey
soon becomes friends with the lonely white boy next door, who is being
mishan-
dled by his unhappy father, and helps Hendrik run away from home.When
this fails, Jakey’s sensiti-vity helps to prevent Hendrik’s suicide.This is a
realistic story about tension, grief and unhappiness in several families, but
there is also an under-current of hopefulness and joy at the personal and
political level. The day of the first free elections in 1994 is a significant
event in the narrative. Beake weaves a well-balanced story with several
narrative threads and an interesting array of characters caught up in a
rapidly changing society. (12+) 	

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