Summary

The novel switches focus in Book Two, moving to the Jarvis family, who live in the town of Carisbrooke above the valley where Stephen Kumalo and his family live. Time rewinds slightly to the few moments before James and Margaret Jarvis receive the news that their son Arthur has been murdered. James and Arthur were not very close; James had hoped Arthur would take over their family farm, but Arthur chose to move to Johannesburg to pursue engineering. James also didn’t understand Arthur’s intense involvement in the battle for blacks’ rights.

The police captain relates the sad news to them. He escorts the Jarvises to a plane to fly to Johannesburg. They are met by Arthur’s widow’s brother, John Harrison, who takes them to his parents’ house where the widow (Mary) and Arthur’s two children are staying. The...