This novel follows Adelaide, who has lived her whole life in a small Ethiopian village with her anthropologist father, disengaged mother and two younger sisters. When she’s told that her family is moving to South Carolina you can’t help but cringe in thinking about this naive village girl leaving her village for the first time. Adelaide isn’t excited about it either and vows to come back and marry her childhood sweetheart.
Most of the story follows Adelaide’s friendship with the African American students who have enrolled in her white school. It’s 1964 in the South of the US and racial tensions are high. No one can understand why a white girl is friends with the black students and Adelaide can’t understand why it’s such a big deal since she has always been friends with black Africans.
This TCK novel follows some typical themes of culture shock and reentry which were rather extreme for Adelaide as she is basically as sheltered as someone can be. I also loved how Kindberg looked at racism and how white expats can be embracing of other cultures overseas and racist in their own countries. The end of the story also shows how difficult and different it can be to go back to where we grow up as an adult and realize we don’t fit like we used to.