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When Doc is detained as an enemy alien, Peekay's life becomes intertwined with the local prison.
Peekay forges loving relationships with adults, most notably Doc, a German professor. His goal is to become a boxer, and the story shows how hard work can lead to success. Although he endures many losses, he grows through his experiences. He is urinated on by a pack of older boys, and then beaten for it by the matron. Five-year-old Peekay is the only English-speaking boy in a harsh Afrikaans-language boarding school. The opening chapters of this haunting autobiographical novel, set in small-town South Africa during World War II, are as bleak and violent as anything written for young people.
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