Stealing Water

A simultaneously hilarious and heart-breaking portrait of a poor white family life in the twilight of apartheid Richard E. Grant

Funny, never self-pitying and a pleasure to readGuardian

Both haunting and funny. [Ecott] writes with compassion and honesty to give us a truly memorable account of an extraordinary upbringing Fergal Keane

Tim Ecotts family swapped Northern Ireland for apartheid Johannesburg in the 1970s. But just six months after arriving the family was bankrupt and evicted from their home, and most of their possessions had been confiscated by the bailiffs.

Whilst friends and relatives imagined they were living enviable lives in the sun, the reality was that the family was cast adrift. Forced to survive on their wits, they entered a twilight world where their true friends were prostitutes, thieves and renegades.

Unputdownable - never sentimental, extremely honest and with a positively Dickensian cast of characters Emma Thompson