What a masterpiece. Heartwarming and heart wrenching, such beautiful writing, so rich.

Beautifully written. I could not put it down.
For anyone who has had any contact with South
Africa it will bring back memories (good and bad).

Great African story superbly written. I couldn’t put this down, read it in 5 days, finish en klaar!

Audio….very similar to Power of One, but less plot - didn't finish

great read - the face of discrimination from so many directions and the impact of "othering" that has far reaching impact.

I started out loving this book. Thought it could well end up in my 'must tell everyone about this' category. However, it seemed to repeat the same themes througout. It struck me in the later parts of the book that the author wanted to tell us about the history of Africa and foudn ways to connect the character to that bit in time. I really lost interest in the book which was a shame as it started off so well.

First time reading this author and I must say I wasn't disappointed. The storyline kept you wanting to read more. The characters all delightful in their own way, especially the main character Tom. I will be reading more from this author. I highly recommend this book

I loved loved loved this book. I listened to the audio-version of it from Audible, and the performance was fantastic. Not only is it a wonderful story about the early life journey of a young orphan boy caught between his British heritage and his Boer upbringing--it's also a window into South African history from just before World War II through the 1960s and is ultimately a brilliant tale of justice emerging from a period of great strife when justice seemed hard to come by. It's quite long (24 hours if you listen to it), but it's also one of those books that kept me in my car even after my commute was over listening to what would happen next--well worth a listen (or read).

Like The Power Of One and Tandia, this book is set in apartheid South Africa and, like them, is quite harrowing in places.
I wonder if these three books are somewhat autobiographical as they have similar storylines and characters.
A wonderful book that takes one through the hell an English-born boy had to endure in an Afrikaner orphanage.

Excellent read.

Wavered between love and then just boredom.

Gave up at page 350 of 671 pages but did skim read pages to find out what happened to Mattress.

If I had no other book ever to read I think this one would have been a winner as it just took forever to get to the point.
I don't really know why it didn't work as it could have been amazing if it had been condensed. It was just far too lengthy and repetitive for my liking.

I adore Bryce Courtenay's books and this one was just brilliant. At the beginning of the book, we see a small boy, living in an orphanage in South Africa, find a bag of dead puppies floating down a river. When he shakes the bag out, he finds that one is still alive. He rescues it and determines to keep it. However, at the cruel orphanage, such a thing would not be aloud. With the help of the black pig hand, he manages to keep the puppy safe, but this brings terrible consequences both for himself and for his pig hand friend. As he grows up he is changed by the fabulous characters he meets. As always with Bryce's books though, there are characters from the past that also pop up again and the boys mission in life is always to find a way to get justice for a black man when no one cares and wants the past to be forgotten.
Such a brilliant author, I'll be reading all his books.