“Halley’s Comet is an outstanding coming-of-age novel with believable characters and strong storyline. The author describes that era of the South African history with particular skill. This book cuts deep, very deep. The end is momentous, but it takes the reader to dark and troubled times before offering an end that is likely to leave even the toughest reader in tears.” —DEKAT Magazine (South Africa)

“This novel, about the slow blooming of love and friendship in a dusty mining town in South Africa made me think of a tough little weed that grows between concrete: it’s tenacious, defiant and hopeful. It’s also a cracking good story.” — Bridget Krone, author of Small Mercies

“A thrilling, tension-filled story of friendship, love, radicalism, and justice that will resonate with many readers” —Kirkus Reviews

“With a sprinkling of the original Afrikaans and countless contextual details – places, brands, music in the background, food, drink, and of course the search for Halley’s Comet itself – Barnard transports readers back to a specific period in time, one that may be familiar to older readers who were teenagers looking for Halley’s Comet themselves, or one that young adults today can explore and reflect on for the first time. This YA story is a crossover novel that is bound to stay with readers – young and old – long after they finish it!” — World Kid Lit Blog

"5 Works of World Literature for Teen Readers" —Kirkus

“As reader, I was completely blown away by the power of this story. Not only is this an important text, but one that, due to its honesty and thematic reach, makes a significant contribution to the genre.” — Louis Esterhuizen, poet and editor

“With gripping action and immense heartbreak, Halley’s Comet yanks readers out of their comfort zone and into the unlikely friendship of a privileged white South African sixteen-year-old, Pete, a black farmworker’s son, Petrus, and an Indian store owner’s daughter, Sarita. We watch with bated breath as Pete questions and defies the inhumanity of Apartheid that tugs at him like a black hole’s gravity. Hannes Barnard delivers an indelible exploration of the importance of empathy in seeing color without seeing inferiority.” — Sonia Patel, author of William C. Morris Award finalist Rani Patel In Full Effect

“The romanticism of the comet is a brilliant metaphor for the search for hope and miracles in the midst of illusions being stripped away.” —Jonathan Amid, Netwerk24

“Halley’s Comet, the debut novel by Hannes Barnard, is a coming-of-age story that will take young readers (and older ones) on a gripping ride to the 1980s and the social and political expanse of the time.” — Leana Lategan, former Head Language Expert at National Afrikaans Literary Museum