 |
- General fiction - |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Ladysmith |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Ladysmith byGiles Foden Faber 322 pages, 1999 ISBN 0571197337 Reviewed by our South African Editor, Merilyn Tomkins adams.west@saol.com - Adams Bookshop, Durban, SA The year is 1899. Boer forces have surrounded the small South African town of Ladysmith, not far from the border of the Transvaal Republic. Waiting for rescue, the townspeople try to keep up their spirits with parties and cricket matches. The cast of characters range from Irish Republican renegades, to London literary editors, to some of the most famous faces of the twentieth century. At the centre is young Bella Kiernan, for whom the long siege represents a chance to break old loyalties and establish new loves. Inspired by the letters of the author's great-grandfather, a British trooper, this is a powerful fictional recreation of the first modern war. Based on the Siege and Relief of Ladysmith, this is a gripping story that takes the reader back in time to conditions at the turn of the last century. The reverse side of the book's jacket depicts a newspaper seller holding yellowed pages bearing the headline: "Relief of Ladysmith Offical Despatch Dundonald enters the Town". Historians have studied diaries and letters and uncovered intriguing facts. The Anglo-Boer War is part and parcel of South Africa's history, and studied in schools as students commence thier high school studies. This is an imperial adventure and a love story. LADYSMITH confirms Giles Foden's place in the first rank of British fiction with this intriguing story in a South African setting. THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND by Giles Foden won the 1998 Whitbread First Novel Award. A film adaptation is currently in production with Channel 4 Films. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||