Rise up
Debut author Arushi Raina introduces readers to some South African history
BY TRILBY KENT
FICTION
When Morning Comes
Arushi Raina
Tradewind Books, Ages 14+
FORTY YEARS after the June 16, 1976, Soweto Student Uprising drew global attention to apartheid’s brutal system of repression, Arushi Raina’s debut novel, set in the weeks leading up to that fateful day, introduces readers to a group of young South Africans.
Zanele, a black student, is secretly plotting against the government. Her best friend, Thabo, is a gang member who’s made powerful enemies. Across the bridge in Johannesburg’s wealthy white suburbs, Jack is enjoying one final summer in his beat-up Mustang before heading to Oxford. Working in her father’s shop, Meena discovers a stack of banned pamphlets, which lead her to a black girl with a secret, the white boy whose car she sometimes drives, and a dangerous tsotsi who’s extorting money from her family’s business. When the characters’ worlds collide, they help to ignite the tinderbox that is Soweto in the summer of 1976.