"Historian, Zara Black, is far from home, trying to come to terms with her family's past. The unearthing begins with Isaiah Black, the grandfather who concealed his race to escape the harsh realities of the diamond mines before abandoning his mother and ultimately changing his name to Isaiah Black. [A name that is not without irony for a man who was classified as mixed, passed as white and sired a line of coloured descendants]. Subtly and astutely, C.A. Davids weaves a narrative that shifts between past and present and contemporary South African and American politics, to examine betrayal and displacement." -- Back cover.