Kip of the Mountain by Emma Gourlay

Title: Kip of the Mountain

Author: Emma Gourlay

Genre: Fantasy, Historical Fiction

Publisher: HarperCollins Australia

Published: 4^th October 2023

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 256

Price: $19.99

Synopsis: The astonishing and magical debut novel from Melbourne writer Emma Gourlay

Kip Boowitt is desperate for a best friend. So when she rescues a tiny creature that looks like a kitten but isn’t a kitten, she names him Buffel and loves him with all her heart.

With a distracted dad and mean kids at school, all Kip wants is someone with two ears and time for her. And Buffel is the best listener. But when he’s kidnapped, there is only one thing to do – go from mountain to sea to get him back.

An action-packed fantasy adventure full of heart, from debut author Emma Gourlay.

~~*~

Kip Boowitt lives at the bottom of Table Mountain in Cape Town, in a place called Constantia Nek in 1985 during apartheid. She lives with her dad, and no mum who has left. Kip and her dad live in an old, haunted manor that is filled with ghosts. But Kip wants a friend – someone she can confide in, because the girls at school aren’t including her, and her dad is always distracted. When she turns twelve, Kip knows she has to wait to receive her Something Odd – which comes in the shape of Buffel, who looks like a kitten but isn’t a kitten.

Kip and Buffel form a connection, and she starts to find a friend, which is her main goal until he is kidnapped. When that happens, Kip finds an unlikely ally in Troy, a boy at her school, Grand Daddy Bristol, and a stowaway on their mission from mountain to sea to save Buffel from those who want to take him away from Kip.

Kip’s story in apartheid South Africa in the mid-1980s is told through the eyes of a young mixed-race girl. Kip’s world is determined by racist laws, telling her where she can go, what she can do, and who she can interact with based on the colour of her skin. Her school is filled with kids who have one black and one white parent, and at first, there are little hints about the setting – the year is mentioned in the first few chapters, the novelty of recycling and as the novel goes on, whites only beaches are discussed, as are moments of violence when people break the law – the racist law of what bubbler they can use. For Kip, she is affected by this but her story in this instance revolves around rescuing Buffel and connecting with her father as they navigate this world. The focus on friendship is something that readers of all ages can relate to, interspersed with grappling with family, racism, and people letting you down, which are also themes that make the novel stand out and show people what South Africa was like during apartheid through the eyes of a child and their understanding.

As the novel is set in South Africa, there are several Afrikaans words interspersed throughout, and translated in text, as we are reading them through Kip’s understanding of her world and how the words relate to what she is experiencing and witnessing. Kip’s adventure is filled with action and for a time, takes her away from the realities of apartheid, though I got the sense that the characters were keenly aware of what they had to grapple with on a day-to-day basis with people like Kip’s teacher coming across as superficial, and as though education wasn’t important to her class (I think Kip and Troy would have wildly disagreed). Between her and Doctor Jibberity, Kip and Troy and their principal, we got a wide range of personalities in this book, all illustrating that everyone is different and that there are always different ways of being yourself. I loved that Kip and Troy were so genuine. They are the kind of characters that many readers will see something of themselves in, which to me, is the mark of a great character and wonderful writing. It showed that the type of person you are becoming or have become is what is important as opposed to what you look like, and the power of this message will help readers understand this.

I also liked the setting – I haven’t read many books set in South Africa, and it captured the beauty of Cape Town and Table Mountain as well as the history and the people, and how people were impacted. Using a range of settings in books shows the diversity of the world and people’s experiences throughout history. I am looking forward to see if there are any more Kip books, as I want to know if she gets up to any new adventures.