| The Other Side of Truth | |
|---|---|
 2000 edition, with award seal |
|
| Author | Beverley Naidoo |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Children's novel |
| Publisher | Puffin Books |
| Publication date | January 2000 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 227 pp (first edition, paperback) |
| ISBN | 9780141304762 |
| OCLC Number | 43377395 |
| LC Classification | PZ7.N1384 Ot 2000 |
| Followed by | Web of Lies |
The Other Side of Truth is a children's novel about Nigerian political refugees by Beverley Naidoo, published in 2000. A powerful story about justice and freedom of speech, it received several awards including the Carnegie Medal.
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Contents |
Plot summary
Although the novel is not written in the first person, it presents the perspective of 12-year-old Sade Solaja, a middle-class Nigerian schoolgirl. Her father, Folarin Solaja, is a journalist, one of the most critical of the corrupt regime. The book opens with her memory of hearing the two shots which ended her mother's life, a memory which recurs throughout the novel in her thoughts and dreams. Her memories of Nigeria are often set in contrast to her experiences of an alien England, while her mother's remembered words of wisdom give her comfort and strength. The concentration on Sade's point of view makes many events seem obscure and confusing, just as she experiences them.
After the shooting, Sade's Uncle Tunde urges her father to send her and her 10-year-old brother Femi to safety in England. They are forced to pack and leave suddenly and secretly. They fly to London posing as the children of a stranger, Mrs Bankole, so they can travel on her passport. When their Uncle Dele fails to collect them at the airport, Mrs Bankole abandons them. Moneyless and friendless, they wander the streets until they come to the attention of the police. Worried to tell the truth in case it endangers their father, Sade takes refuge in silence and later in half-truths. The children are fostered and sent to school, where Sade is picked on by a Jamaican girl named Marcia, but finds a friend in Mariam, a refugee from Somalia.
It later emerges that her worried father has entered England illegally to look for them and has been arrested. There is a chance that he will be deported to face certain death in Nigeria, especially as the Nigerian police claim he is wanted for his wife's murder, but Sade braves the freezing night to speak to "Mr Seven O'Clock", the newscaster she has seen on television, to bring her father's story to the attention of the British public. The story ends with her father's release for Christmas, though asylum has yet to be granted.
Foreword
The foreword is written by Jon Snow, a real-life "Mr Seven O'Clock", who describes the book as "a fast and vivid account of a family's escape from threat and murder.... Not only a marvellous read, but one that refuels the desire for justice and freedom within and beyond our shores."
Reception
The Other Side of Truth won a UK Arts Council Award for work in progress. After being published it received several awards including the Carnegie Medal for 2000. The official site says that it "skilfully blends fact and fiction to leave a lasting impression of real issues at work" and describes it as: "An important book which challenges the notion of 'truth' itself." It further describes the writing as "gripping, powerful and evocative". [1]
The Other Side of Truth also won the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize Silver Medal in 2000 and the Jane Addams Children's Book Award in 2002, and was named an International Board on Books for Young People Honour Book in 2002, among other honours. [2]
Allusions to historical events
The novel refers to the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and other journalists, which caused an international outcry in 1995. It is set in the immediate aftermath of those executions. Although in the early twenty-first century the military regime no longer controls the country, media rights body Reporters Without Borders says Nigeria is still a violent place for the press, with journalists often suffering beatings, unfair arrests and police raids. [3]
Also referred to in the novel is the civil war in Somalia, which Sade's school friend Mariam experienced as a young child.
References
External links
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Postcards from No Man's Land |
Carnegie Medal recipient 2000 |
Succeeded by The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents |
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