'A simultaneously hilarious and heart-breaking portrait of a poor white family life in the twilight of apartheid' Richard E. Grant

'Funny, never self-pitying and a pleasure to read' Guardian

'Both haunting and funny. [Ecott] writes with compassion and honesty to give us a truly memorable account of an extraordinary upbringing' Fergal Keane

Tim Ecott's family swapped Northern Ireland for apartheid Johannesburg in the 1970s. But just six months after arriving the family was bankrupt and evicted from their home, and most of their possessions had been confiscated by the bailiffs.

Whilst friends and relatives imagined they were living enviable lives in the sun, the reality was that the family was cast adrift. Forced to survive on their wits, they entered a twilight world where their true friends were prostitutes, thieves and renegades.

'Unputdownable - never sentimental, extremely honest and with a positively Dickensian cast of characters' Emma Thompson

'STEALING WATER is a simultaneously hilarious and heartbreaking portrait of poor-white family life in the twilight of apartheid' - Richard E. Grant

About the Author
Tim Ecott is a journalist and a writer. Initially specialising in Africa for the BBC World Service, he now writes for a wide range of publications including the Economist, the Guardian and Conde Nast Traveller.

Reviews
Funny, never self-pitying and a pleasure to read * Guardian *
There are belly laughs enough, and some serious criminality to boot, but Ecott's outstanding talent as an author is for pathos. [It] moved me more than once to tears. As an author, Dickens is the comparison * Matthew Parris, The Times *
Engrossing [. . .] it's a love story without romance, or redemption, or a tidy resolution; and all the finer for it * Mail on Sunday *
The narrative crackles and fizzles along * Irish Times *
An extraordinary account of childhood in a baroque South Africa. Unputdownable - never sentimental, extremely honest and with a positively Dickensian cast of characters * Emma Thompson *
The greatest memoir to come out of white Africa since Rian Malan's My Traitor's Heart - it reads like Angela's Ashes rewritten by Nick Hornby under a baking Johannesburg sun . . . told with warmth, humanity and humour to burn * Tony Parsons *
A truthful story brilliantly told - both funny and moving. I often had to lay the book aside to recover from laughter . . . Tim Ecott cleverly captures the feeling of an extraordinary life * Lynne Reid Banks *
Tim Ecott's story of growing up in Ireland and Africa is both haunting and funny. He writes with compassion and honesty to give us a truly memorable account of an extraordinary upbringing * Fergal Keane *
STEALING WATER is a simultaneously hilarious and heartbreaking portrait of poor-white family life in the twilight of apartheid * Richard E. Grant *
Excellent * Metro *



Book Information
ISBN 9780340936641
Author Tim Ecott
Format Paperback
Page Count 320
Imprint Sceptre
Publisher Hodder & Stoughton
Weight(grams) 261g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 22mm