By Leigh Andrews

Things I Thought I Knew is a love story through and through, starting with the idyllic childhood of Lily who passes as white, and her sister Jules, who just doesn’t. Their parents – white mom and black dad – live in the Eastern Cape’s Cefani, and the girls spend their days playing outside and dodging storms and school alike.

Then, like all good things, life changes. Lily moves to a small town with her mom, while her sister and dad leave the country. Before we know it Lily is sharing digs and living her life at ‘a university in the Eastern Cape’ (no prizes for guessing which one). She’s making lifelong friends, which is when she meets Adam, the love of her life. Along the way we discover she lives with epilepsy, and how scary an attack can be. The book chronicles their on-off love story with such vivid descriptions that I often found myself thinking “Wow, I’ve felt just like that.” But it’s not just a love story. It’s a fascinating chronicle of family life in South Africa, of what it feels like to see people who aren’t there ... and to be treated for this ‘ailment’, even if it is recognised as a gift and a calling in some cultures.

There’s sheer delight and the depths of sadness, a strong South African flavour and a true sense of that longing you feel when you just can’t be with the one you want even though you know you are meant to be together. Then, on taking that risk, there’s the reality of losing the one you love in a pointless act of violence, watching the nightmare from images and voices of your early childhood come true. Sound good? Then this is the book for you.

It’s been a while since I have found myself so immersed in words on a page. I’m off to try get my hands on White’s first novel, Emily Green and Me.

Things I Thought I Knew is published by Umuzi of Random House Struik.