Keeping Secrets:

by LeAnne Hardy

[This edition uses British spellings.] Fifteen-year-old Sindiswe Khumalo is the most promising figure skater the South African Skating Federation has ever had. But at the rink Sindi can’t talk about what’s making her father ill. Even her best friends can’t be trusted. Her friend Mboti lost his job when people found out he had HIV. A girl in her class dropped out of school when the bullies accused her of being infected. Sindi has dreams—Olympic-size dreams. The truth could cost her everything, but keeping the secret might cost her more.

258 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 18, 2014

About the author

Although I grew up in the Midwest of the United States, I have lived in six countries on four continents. I have sipped cream tea in Oxfordshire, eaten stewed goat at a Mozambican wedding, slid down rocks in a Mato Grosso river and shopped at Mall of America. My books for children and young people come out of my cross-cultural experiences and my passion to use story to convey spiritual truths in a form that will permeate the lives of children and young people. I recently returned to the Northwoods of Wisconsin after three years in Johannesburg, South Africa, where I focused on writing for children affected by HIV/AIDS, teaching writing workshops and reading stories in after-school programs in Tembisa Township.

Reviews

[LeAnne]

When I returned to live in South Africa, I found several races using the ice rink where I practiced and a story began to grow in my mind. The manuscript went through several transformations before I found a POV I was comfortable writing as a white woman who lived in Kempton Park and visited Thembisa to share books with at-risk kids and enjoy the resources and friendship of the local library. Sindi is very precious to me.