FICTION

HOME GROUND by Lynn Freed (Summit: $15.95; 273 pp.). Through the eyes of Ruth Frank, a young Jewish girl growing up in South Africa during the ‘60s and ‘70s, more light is shed on the divisiveness of society there than any newspaper account you could read today. She knows blacks only as the devoted servants who “changed her nappies,” but even at an early age, Ruth--the youngest daughter of theatrical parents who have the misfortune of being not wealthy, but “presumed” wealthy--can see the hypocrisies in which she lives so uncomfortably. As for the other members of her family, from her selfish sisters, egocentric mother, and passive father, they all choose to ignore the possibility that their world is “about to explode.”

While the Franks work hard to maintain a prosperous face to society, their servants live in squalor. The family dines on “guavas and cream,” and Ruth pleads with her mother not to fire one of their servants for stealing a pencil. (She fires him anyway.) You can understand why Ruth can’t wait to grow up and leave South Africa behind. “Starving black babies seemed far from me--white girl, Jew,” Ruth admits. Nevertheless, her ability to comprehend the world crumbling around her is powerful, and so is this first novel.