Blacklaws, Troy 1965–

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Blacklaws, Troy 1965–

PERSONAL: Born 1965, in Pinetown, Natal, South Africa; married; wife's name Daniela; children: Finn Christian (son), Mia. Education: Attended Rhodes University.

ADDRESSES: Home—Germany. Agent—Blake Friedmann Agency, 122 Arlington Rd., London NW1 7HP, England. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Teacher of English in East London, South Africa; teacher in Stowe, England, 1993, and Sherborne, England, 1994–96; Frankfurt International School, teacher, 1996–2000, 2003–; Vienna International School, teacher, 2000–03. Military service: Served in army for two years.

WRITINGS:

Karoo Boy (novel), Double Storey (Cape Town, South Africa), 2004, Harcourt (Orlando, FL), 2005.

Blood Orange (novel), foreword by Donald Woods, Double Storey (Cape Town, South Africa), 2005.

Author's work has been translated and published in Africaans.

ADAPTATIONS: Film rights to Karoo Boy were sold to Videovision Entertainment.

WORK IN PROGRESS: A novel about a South African teacher in Vienna.

SIDELIGHTS: Troy Blacklaws was born and raised in South Africa, and his first novel, Karoo Boy, reflects both the natural beauty of that country and the injustice of the apartheid system that remained official policy there for so long. Karoo Boy describes the coming of age of Douglas, a young white youth who lives in South Africa during the 1970s. When Douglas is fourteen, his twin brother is killed in a freak accident involving his father and a cricket ball. Devastated, Douglas is then uprooted from his home, moving with his mother from their seaside home to a small, inland town. Douglas's mother works on her art long hours, leaving her son on his own to cope with the tough local youth. Douglas struggles through adolescence, helped along the way by Marika, a rebellious girl who awakens his passions, and Moses, a gas-station attendant who serves as a father figure to the boy. Elizma Nolte, reviewing the book in the South Africa Times, called Karoo Boy an "easy reading sumptuous novel" in which the sights and sounds of South Africa are presented in a way that is "painfully beautiful, exaggerated into the romantic." Other reviewers pointed out that although the book vividly evokes South Africa, it also transcends that country and its history to present universal truths. As Hazel Rochman stated in a Booklist review, even those with no knowledge of South Africa "will recognize the aching personal truth and political horror" depicted by the author.

Blacklaws' second published novel, Blood Orange, was actually written before Karoo Boy, but was not published until later. Blood Orange is narrated by a South African youth, Gecko, whose father commits suicide. "Gecko's disarming honesty and self-deprecating style lends authenticity to his adolescence and the resilience of youth," commented Caroline Hurry in the Johannesburg, South Africa, Sunday Independent. She further noted: "Blacklaws has a way of capturing images and playing with words that add charm."