Growing Up In White South Africa

This story of a middle-class white South African family unfolds between the years 1939 and 1964 - a transformative period in South Africa’s political landscape. It is told through the eyes and experiences of the younger son and his rite of passage into a country of racial segregation that gradually opens his eyes to the many injustices imposed upon the majority of the country’s population, coupled with a realization that his white privileges are sustained at the brutal expense of others.On a personal level the narrative is a romping journey through the adventures of post-war youth searching for self-identity in a rapidly changing world. It is also a spiritual journey and a breakaway from religious bigotry and prejudice. It is very funny, romantic and adventurous with many young people expressing greater sexual freedom than their parents and grandparents, as they enter an increasingly technological age where the stars are now the limit. The reader is introduced to a tapestry of many fascinating characters reflecting the social and political milieu of the time. To sanitize the vulgarity of its protagonist and his friends in their sometimes wild behavior and language, would be an injustice to the reality of their varied experiences, immature and lacking in discernment as they were at times.As the narration is told in the first person, the storyteller concedes that his account of the people and events recorded may find contradiction and correction in the memory of others who were also there at the time, but that is the nature of any shared experience.About the NEVILLE HERRINGTON is a former SABC radio journalist and senior lecturer in the Department of Speech and Drama at the University of Natal in Durban; he wrote and directed the double-bill ”Strike” and “On Strike” which marked the opening of the university’s Square Space Theatre and his political satire, “on Strike”, was among the dramatic works chosen to celebrate the opening of the Asoka Theatre. He also wrote “Ulster of the Southern Cross”, “The Sullivans of Skeerport”, “Still Life” and “The Thorn Child” which played at the City Centre Theatre in Durban, and the Upstairs of the Market Theatre in Johannesburg. He is a recipient of a Durban Critics’ Circle award for his ‘distinguished contribution to the arts in Kwa-Zulu Natal' and is the author of two new historical novels on the Anglo Boer "England Wants Your Gold" and "The Irish Boer Woman" both of which are available on Amazon books and Kindle. In addition, he has also written, "Dark Knight of the Soul," "Ritchie's War," "Elsie," "Castle's in the Sand," and "Thorn Child." He has a PhD in TV drama and recently co-produced, with his wife Sandra, ‘The Flawed Genius of Jan Smuts,’ - a major drama-documentary set against the Anglo Boer War and the 1st and 2nd World Wars which is available in dvd format on Amazon.