The West Rand Jive Cats Boxing Club

Life on the Johannesburg mines is tough. Scorched by searing heat and choked by dust, it's a place of downtrodden women and hard-drinking men whose prejudices already seem out of date, even in 1958, at least to twelve-year-old Chris and Tommy. Kindled by the sounds of Elvis, Chuck Berry and the kwela kwela rhythms of the black ghettos, the young jive cats of the West Rand Cons Mine look to prove their grit on the township dance floors and in the sweat-soaked ring of the boxing club, which is run by the enigmatic and wise Jock McGinty. But when Tommy's beloved sister Cecilia disappears without trace one night, and their cold-blooded father falls under suspicion, the two friends find that they need the deepest loyalty and courage to face their future. Frank, witty and heartbreakingly poignant, this is a compelling story about the endurance of friendship, and about coming of age in South Africa at a time that was at once charmed and cruel.


Genre: General Fiction