Skyline — Patricia Schonstein

Skyline is a vibrant novel set in contemporary times in a run-down block of flats in Long Street, central Cape Town.

Through this novel, narrated by an adolescent girl, the book explores the lives of African refugees who come to South Africa seeking a new life and better place, having fled wars and poverty in their own countries.

The narrator and her sister befriend a warm and caring refugee from Mozambique called Bernard. They help him battle the terrible sadness and loneliness his country's civil war has inflicted upon him. He in turn, along with others from Zimbabwe, Sudan and Congo, introduces the sisters to the music, wisdom and energy of Africa.

There is sadness in this story, for it gives a hard look at the emotional carnage caused by war. But there is also hope and humour and friendship.