Out of Shadows took one year and six months to complete. Wallace himself attended a boarding school in Zimbabwe not too long after the Rhodesian Bush War/Zimbabwean War of Liberation ended. While a student there, he wanted to write a story of what he had seen and experienced. The political atmosphere in Zimbabwe was declining and unstable, and inspired Wallace to begin writing fictional stories of his encounters. Though the characters in Out of Shadows are not real, they served to demonstrate the attitudes or personalities "a very few people" were portraying. Wallace notes that he "came up with the idea of "What if...?" and took it from there" when he was writing the novel. There may be many similar aspects of the novel's story may share with Wallace's real life but they are general details and are not very specific.
Synopsis
In 1983, thirteen-year-old Robert Jacklin arrives from England at Haven School, an elite boys' boarding school in Zimbabwe. He is the son of a British intellectual attached to the British Embassy. Robert befriends Nelson Ndube, one of the few black pupils at the school, but eventually turns to the white elite of the school instead in an effort to find safety and acceptances. Many of the white students, particularly Ivan Hascott, are racist bullies who are still angered that the country's white minority lost power to the its black majority after the recent civil war. Robert wrestles with his conscience while becoming drawn into their ideology and practices. Ivan's family has suffered during Robert Mugabe's rise to power, and Ivan pressures Robert into joining his quest for revenge on black Africans. Robert becomes disturbed by Ivan's increasingly violent behavior.
Publication
Out of Shadows was rejected by one hundred literary agents and publishers before being picked up by Andersen Press. Out of Shadows was first published in paperback format in the United Kingdom by Andersen Press on 28 January 2010.
Reception
In a starred review, Kirkus Reviews called the novel a "first-rate, surprisingly believable thriller" and praised Wallace's "mastery" in portraying race relations in post-war Zimbabwe. Publishers Weekly gave the novel a favourable review, writing, "Racial conflict, corruption, and the cycle of abuse are conveyed with authenticity in this uncomfortable, unvarnished story." In her review for The Times, writer Amanda Craig praised the novel as "something that schools should study and readers read." In his review for The Guardian, author Patrick Ness criticized the novel for its "often unsubtle and occasionally unconvincing" plot as well as the "full psychology" of Robert's journey into and out of Ivan's racist crusade for not being "as nuanced as it really needs to be". Ness, however, nonetheless called the novel "a powerful, devastating read". Writing in the Independent on Sunday, Nicholas Tucker called it an "excellent" novel. Booktrust called it an "expert and disturbing examination of the meaning of morality and of the comprehensive and complex legacy of conflict and injustice." Emma Lee-Potter of the Daily Express compared it to Lord of the Flies and wrote that it "could well become a children's classic."
