This novel emerged out of The Boy who Counted to a Million. When I was working on Boy, I realised that I had material for two novels so I split them.
It has two main themes: the first, squatters. In South Africa land and the ability to acquire it is a huge problem and squatters set up their fragile plastic and stick dwellings wherever they can find an empty piece of land. One day a group of squatters set up their shacks on the vacant land in front of our house alongside a disused railway line. They prowled around our house and garden most nights and anything that was not locked up would be gone by morning. The book emerged from becoming aware of their plight and watching them scrape an existence just 70 metres from our front door.
It also deals with a boy's disillusion with his father. It's very much based on my own sense of betrayal and loss when my father left.
Outside the Walls is published by both Heinemann and OUP so should be available in the UK.