No Turning Back by Beverley Naidoo: book review

No Turning Back: A Novel of South Africa (1995) is set in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1994, just before Nelson Mandela became the nation’s first black president.

Sipho is a 12-year-old boy fleeing his sleeping mother and abusive step-father one early morning. With money stolen from his mother’s purse, he leaves the rural slums and heads for the capital city, Johannesburg.

Mixing with a group of street children he does odd jobs for money – pushing shopping trolleys and parking cars – until Mr Danny, a white shopkeeper, lets him work at his store six days a week. Mr Danny has a daughter Judy and an 11-year-old son David. David has been ‘difficult’ since his mother left. David doesn’t like Sipho, but as Judy says, ‘At the moment, he doesn’t like anyone.’

Sipho returns to the streets and looks for his friends, until he seeks refuge at a homeless shelter and the shelter’s school. It is not like his previous school.

This is brief, quick read in a simple style about the search for a better life. It is also about friendships, family relationships, trust, and survival. It is a little too simplistic, the characters lack depth, and the political tensions are not brought to the fore, making this a less than memorable book.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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