The novel is historical fiction set in the early 1950s during the dark Apartheid era, in a small rural town in South Africa, with flashbacks to the battle fields of the Second World War in North Africa. Two girls constantly encounter each other on the farm: Ada, is the only daughter of the farm owner, Jonah Courtnay and his war time bride Johelia. Nicky is a young girl of mixed descent, and daughter of the help on the farm. The harshness of those times, tests this relationship further, when the homestead is raided by the brutal, vengeful policeman, Koos. At the centre of the novel is the Courtnay farm, where Jonah and his war bride Johelia, live with their only daughter Ada and her resentful grandmother. The passive resistance of the people during the Defiance Campaign to the unjust laws of Apartheid threatens the harvesting of the ripe apples waiting to be picked. The workers who usually walk five kilometres from the Black people’s township to the farm don’t arrive to work. However, Nicky and her mother Rosie circumvent the barricades and join the loyal workers and friends of the Courtnays who gather to save the produce. Family bonds are tested, friendships strengthened while others are fractured and even broken as Johelia and Jonah decide to build a school for the local Black children on their property. When Johelia forms a choir for the children, ethnic music, jazz, song and dance fill the farm and the hardships of their lives under racist laws are momentarily forgotten. Interwoven in the plot are the secrets that Jonah keeps hidden within himself and his diary of his time serving during the Second World War.  Ada is determined to unravel the story. Jonah finds a friend and sympathetic listener in the Australian Dr Bainton who too served in North Africa. They lament the treatment of the unrecognised bravery of the Indigenous soldiers of South Africa and Australia. They share their war time experiences of blinding sandstorms, relentless bombardment and fierce fighting at famous battles including Tobruk. The final secret, of Jonah’s last battle at El Alamein, which has impacted so greatly on the family since the war, is revealed as they sit around the kitchen table. By the light of the candle, on a dark night, Jonah reads from his diary until there is no more to be said.

Toby Hammerschlag was born in South Africa and lived there until immigrating to Australia in 1986 with her husband and two daughters. She has lived in Sydney ever since. Toby was a Special Education teacher for many years specialising in literacy. Her first book, The Rooftop was published in 2015. This novel has been widely used in schools. Looking Out and Beyond is her second novel. The research and writing of this novel has taken five years.

* This novel is aimed at an early high school readership and for advanced English readers in year 6.
* The novel is an intriguing combination of a fictitious story set during Apartheid in rural South Africa in the 1950’s with a subplot of the Second World War that becomes interlinked in the final chapter.
* The novel is historical fiction and will appeal to readers who enjoy fiction and also those readers who have a historical bent.
* Themes in the novel of Apartheid, Second World War and the treatment of Indigenous soldiers are in the High School History syllabus of NSW (perhaps in other States too). It would be a good book to be used in schools in English and History classes, giving students insights into their future study of these topics. It could also be used as a tool for integrative teaching.
* The author brings her 30 years of teaching experience to make this novel an appropriate text for the classroom. The historical facts of the book are well researched and the novel begins with a detailed historical introduction to Apartheid in South Africa.
* There is an Australian component to the novel through the character of the Australian, Doctor Bainton, who served with the allies in North Africa and his feisty wife Lilly who teaches the Black children on the farm.
* This book highlights the proud Anzac tradition at battles such as Tobruk and El Alamein while also depicting the poor treatment of brave Indigenous soldiers.
* The book deals with the topical issue of race and discrimination in a fictitious historical context. It immerses the reader into a world of racism and discrimination.
* The novel celebrates people who fight for freedom.