Queen of the Free State

The outsider on the inside. The one who watches and listens. Growing up Jewish in a small Free State town in the 1950s and '60s, Jennifer Friedman moves between child and adult, black and white, as Verwoerd's grand apartheid divides SA. There are midnight escapes, stolen loot, banned comics, hideous encounters with bras, terrifying policemen, albino messengers and Pa's beatings. Told with humour and pathos, Friedman's memoir brings to life a strong sense of place, love, rebellion and betrayal.