Freed, Lynn

New York. 1986. August 1986. Summit Books. 1st American Printing. Very Good in Dustjacket. 0671619659. 273 pages. hardcover. Jacket design by Phil Huling. keywords: Autobiography Women South Africa. FROM THE PUBLISHER - In this utterly enchanting and original novel, a young girl searches for her own ‘home ground' amid the confusion of family life and in a land full of contradictions. Seen through the eyes of Ruth Frank, the youngest of three sisters, and set against the backdrop of South Africa in a more naive time, Home Ground takes us through ten years in the life of Ruth's eccentric, theatrical Jewish family For the Franks, it is a decade of rivalry, seduction, betrayal, despair and triumph. From childhood Ruth is aware that her family is different - set apart from their more prosperous neighbors by the desperate battle to keep their family theatre going and by the hourly drama of their lives. The Franks are never off stage, their lives a constant performance to an unseen audience. Ruth and her two sisters, however, struggle to escape the roles they have been cast in Catherine, the oldest, into an early and unsuitable marriage to the wealthy, domineering Jeffrey Goldman; Valerie, the troublemaker, into a doomed relationship of her own design, and Ruth, the rebel, into a life beyond the family myths invented by her distant, imperious mother, whom she adores. Each of Ruth's exploits - whether in the forbidden servants' compound where she is drawn by curiosity and affection, the sanctuary of her kindhearted grandfather's room, or the arms of her first love - brings her closer to her own ‘home ground.' Bold, funny and deeply compassionate, this wonderful novel about exotic people in an exotic land will delight anyone who has ever known the excesses of family life. inventory #7641 ISBN: 0671619659.