Peekay learns he must count on himself in order to survive the abusive boarding school he enters in South Africa. Being a small, five-year-old white British boy in a school of older Boers sets the scene for bullying. Set during the 1940s in the time of WWII, Peekay struggles as he learns the power of one individual being able to overcome life’s defeating odds. He encounters a boxer who encourages him to use his talents. But it is through a German pianist who inadvertently allows him to experience prison that he begins to acknowledge his talents as a boxer and leader. dld

Originally published by William Heinemann Australia, in 1989.