THE HIDDEN STAR

Fiction (Young Adult Novel) 232 pages

Umuzi / Random House SA - November 2006

 

Eleven-year old Nolitye lives with her mother in a shack in Cape Town’s Phola township. She has only vague memories of her father who disappeared when she was five. She has always collected stones, and one day stumbles upon a special clear purple one, which makes her giggle when she holds it. She and her friends use the stone's magic to help them defeat a school bully, then realise it has other powers. And they must find the other pieces of the stone, which was shattered by an evil spirit, creating havoc in the spirit world, and the human world of South Africa. Only when Nolitye completes the stone will she find out what happened to her father…

A pacy, intelligent children's novel, the supernatural elements combining with serious issues like racial segregation, bullying and grieving for a lost parent. A complete departure from Duiker's earlier novels, this charming children's adventure was completely shortly before his tragic suicide in 2005 and was published posthumously, with his family's co-operation.