THE WHITENESS OF BONES BY SARAH PENNY IN SOUTH AFRICA

 In the early nineties the borders to the north are opened to South Africans.  A young woman and a ballet dancer decide to make a journey through Africa together. To this end, they buy matching scout hats, survival manuals and a compass with an inbuilt convex magnifying lens for starting fires.  Their only purpose is to see what's there and to have fun while doing it.  But the death of her brother on the eve of their departure radically changes the nature of the expedition. The Whiteness of Bones is a travel book infused with a fascination for Africa - for her landscapes, for her ambiguities, for her peoples and for her myriad histories.  But it is also a moving and perceptive account of the author's inner journey as she moves slowly towards an understanding of her grief, and a sense of her own place in a country and a continent which had turned their backs on each other for over forty years. Soft cover, fairly good condition. The cover is a bit creased in places.  256 pages.