The Power of One - Paperback

by Bryce Courtenay (Author)

"The Power of One has everything: suspense, the exotic, violence; mysticism, psychology and magic; schoolboy adventures, drama."
-The New York Times

"Unabashedly uplifting . . . asserts forcefully what all of us would like to believe: that the individual, armed with the spirit of independence-'the power of one'-can prevail."
-Cleveland Plain Dealer

In 1939, as Hitler casts his enormous, cruel shadow across the world, the seeds of apartheid take root in South Africa. There, a boy called Peekay is born. His childhood is marked by humiliation and abandonment, yet he vows to survive and conceives heroic dreams-which are nothing compared to what life actually has in store for him. He embarks on an epic journey through a land of tribal superstition and modern prejudice where he will learn the power of words, the power to transform lives, and the power of one.

"Totally engrossing . . . [presents] the metamorphosis of a most remarkable young man and the almost spiritual influence he has on others . . . Peekay has both humor and a refreshingly earthy touch, and his adventures, at times, are hair-raising in their suspense."
-Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Marvelous . . . It is the people of the sun-baked plains of Africa who tug at the heartstrings in this book. . . . [Bryce] Courtenay draws them all with a fierce and violent love."
-The Washington Post Book World

"Impressive."
-Newsday

"A compelling tale."
-The Christian Science Monitor

Front Jacket

Unabashedly uplifting.
THE CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER
Set in a world torn apart, where man enslaves his fellow man and freedom remains elusive, THE POWER OF ONE is the moving story of one young man's search for the love that binds friends, the passion that binds lovers, and the realization that it takes only one to change the world. A weak and friendless boy growing up in South Africa during World War II, Peekay turns to two older men, one black and one white, to show him how to find the courage to dream, to succeed, to triumph over a world when all seems lost, and to inspire him to summon up the most irrersistible force of all: the Power of One.

"From the Paperback edition.

Author Biography

Bryce Courtenay was born in South Africa, is an Australian, and has
lived in Sydney for the major part of his life. Visit him on the web at www.brycecourtenay.com.