Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1953. dj. Hardcover first edition - The third novel by this writer born in South Africa. Set on a sugar plantation in Natal, a setting Rooke drew from her own childhood, Ratoons explores the violent racial and class divides of 1940s South Africa. The novel follows Helen Angus, who, after a family tragedy, swaps her own illegitimate child for her father's, thus weaving a tangled web of secrets. Her friendships with Indian and Zulu neighbors illuminate the social barbarism and tensions that culminate in the 1949 Zulu-Indian riots. Rooke's unique, non-judgmental narrative style, gives voice to marginalized experiences of apartheid-era South Africa. While Rooke's novels were initially well-received (although less so in her home land), they were forgotten for many years and it was only in the 1980s that her work was reappraised and its significance reevaluated. 248 pp plus a 2 pp glossary.