It’s 1976 in South Africa
In the black township of Soweto, Zanele, who also works as a nightclub singer, is plotting against the apartheid government. The police can't know. Her mother and sister can't know. No one can know. On the affluent white side of town, Jack Craven plans to spend the last days of his break before university burning miles on his beat-up Mustang, and crashing other people's parties.
Their chance meeting changes everything. Already a chain of events is in motion; a failed plot, a murdered teacher, a powerful police agent with a vendetta, and a secret network of students across the township. The students will rise. And there will be violence when morning comes.
Introducing readers to a remarkable young literary talent, When Morning Comes offers an impeccably researched and vivid snapshot of South African society on the eve of the uprising that changed it forever.
Bank Street College of Education Children's Book Committee Best Children's Books of the Year | 2018 | Commended
Africana Book Award Best Book for Older Readers | 2018 | Winner
Crossword Book Award for Young People | 2018 | Short-listed
“(This) riveting story about the Soweto Uprising of 1976 focuses on four young people (whose) lives have become inextricably intertwined...Its characters are engaging, its description of societal differences and injustice is thought-provoking, and its action sequences are at times heart-stopping. (Raina) create(s) believable characters quickly...At its best, historical fiction allows us to feel as if we are living through something we have only read about. That is especially true in the case of When Morning Comes.”