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When the Ground Is Hard
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
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When the Ground Is Hard
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Publisher's Summary
An Edgar Award nominee stuns in this heartrending tale set in a Swaziland boarding school where two girls of different castes bond over a shared copy of Jane Eyre.
Adele Joubert loves being one of the popular girls at Keziah Christian Academy. She knows the upcoming semester at school is going to be great with her best friend Delia at her side. Then Delia dumps her for a new girl with more money, and Adele is forced to share a room with Lottie, the school pariah, who doesn't pray and defies teachers' orders.
But as they share a copy of Jane Eyre, Lottie's gruff exterior and honesty grow on Adele, and Lottie learns to be a little sweeter. Together, they take on bullies and protect each other from the vindictive and prejudiced teachers. Then a boy goes missing on campus and Adele and Lottie must rely on each other to solve the mystery and maybe learn the true meaning of friendship.
What the critics say
Winner of the LA Times Book Festival Prize for Young Adult Literature - 2019
A Kirkus Reviews Best Young Adult Book of the Year - 2019
Josette Frank Award Winner - 2020
A YALSA Best Fiction Pick - 2020
A Westchester Fiction Award Winner - 2020
"Excellent writing and an evocative setting make this novel a standout." (Booklist, starred review)
“Turpin reads with a musical African accent. She makes fine distinctions among the characters’ voices and embodies Adele’s swiftly shifting emotions. American missionaries have clipped accents, and male characters sound credible. The richly evoked setting may be strange to American readers, and the vivid racism may be shocking, but teens will be drawn into the girls’ growing friendship and search for self.” (Booklist, starred review on audiobook)
"Accidents, lies, thefts...secrets...dead bodies, and illicit rendezvous make for riveting reading in this taut novel." (School Library Journal)