For one long, intense week in October, 1962, it looked like the world might end as the Cuban Missile Crisis brought with it an East-West stand-off and the possibility of nuclear holocaust. This dark, bittersweet novel evokes the fear and confusion of the period through the experience of a young boy caught up in South Africa's political unrest following the Sharpeville massacre, Nelson Mandela's arrest and the State of Emergency. Paul, sensitive, isolated and desperate to fit in despite his English parents, has the chance to join the most popular pupil's gang and will do whatever is required to please its Afrikaans' ringleader. When a friend of Paul's parents is put under house-arrest, the boys become suddenly aware of a world beyond the school boundaries: the far-right is in the ascendant and South Africa is no longer safe. Added to this sense of unease, Paul's growing realisation of his sexuality sets him still further apart from his peers. Now a man in his sixties and living abroad, he is drawn back to Pretoria to revisit his boyhood home and make sense of the part he unwittingly played in the arrest of a charismatic teacher and his African lover.
About the Author :
Tony Peake is the author of the authorised biography of Derek Jarman (Little, Brown 1999) and three novels: A Summer Tide (Abacus, 1993), Son to the Father (Little, Brown, 1995) and North Facing (Myriad Editions, 2017). As a short story writer and occasional essayist, his work has been widely anthologised, most recently in Best British Short Stories 2016, and he has also edited a collection of short stories on the theme of Seduction (Serpent’s Tail, 1994).
Tony was born in South Africa, but after graduating from Rhodes University, moved to London, where he worked as production manager at the Open Space Theatre. A spell on Ibiza, teaching English, History and Drama, was followed by a return to the UK and jobs in modelling, acting and film distribution. For the last 30 years, he has been a literary agent. He is familiar with many aspects of writing, and the publishing scene in general, and has a modicum of teaching experience.
Review :
'Gripping and extremely moving - highly recommended. Tony Peake is in the top rank of South African writers right now.' - David Willers, Litnet
'This is the power of Tony Peake's writing... It's just heart-breaking... It's so shocking... When the book ends, you're absolutely hanging on every word on the last pages. You don't want it to end.' - Reading Matters with Sue Grant Marshall, Radio Today
'North Facing is an interesting character study that takes in large events and issues... But explores them from a small, personal viewpoint. The key turning points of the plot emerge only gradually, which is a very effective touch... Overall, this quiet-seeming novel is well worth a read.' - David Hebblethwaite
'Beautifully plotted, the reader is instantly connected to Paul as a character... Thoroughly compelling and unexpectedly moving, North Facing is a fascinating portrait of both a childhood and a country.' - The Bookbag
'Tony Peake's compelling and haunting new novel makes the political personal... It is elegiac in its depiction of things half-understood, telling in its detail - an African comb becomes totemic in memory - and a gracefully achieved work of art made more powerful by its quiet anger and understatement.' - Shena Mackay
