A Girl Named Sooner by Suzanne Clauser. H/C. 277 pp. 1972 Postage R50

First edition published 1972 by Hamish Hamilton. Dust cover in good condition thanks to a protective plastic covering. Inside pages very clean and neat. Name of previous owner on first flyleaf. Binding sturdy.

Sooner was a little girl. Named because she's been born too soon after a contrived marriage, she spent the first nine years of her life slaving for a boot-legging, Bible-quoting and embittered old woman, who beat and starved her and kept her illiterate and dirty. But she had wonderful friends the broken-winged bird who sat on her shoulder, Li'l Un the chipmunk, usually in her pocket, and William the aged mule. Thankfully everything eventually turned out well for this little neglected girl ...