Set in 1944 in the sweltering South African wilderness, this is a powerful coming-of-age story about family and first love It was like looking into the crimson depths of a giant poppy. Rifke pulled off her old clothes and slipped the dress over her head, feeling its petal-soft fabric caress her skin. She darted a glance at Ma. Her mouth was set in a straight line. Still she said nothing. The argument over the red dress is the final straw for 14-year-old Rifke. Fed up with stuffy Johannesburg and her crabby, difficult mother, she snaps and recklessly boards a train out of town—but her fantasy escape doesn"t go exactly to plan, and Rifke ends up in the middle of nowhere. With no train home for 30 days, she is forced to stay with the mysterious and unwelcoming van Niel family on their run-down farm, and suddenly her old life doesn"t seem so bad.