The stunning and shocking debut novel from the award-winning author of Maggie & Me. Set in South Africa You Will Be Safe Here explores legacies of abuse, redemption and the strength of the human spirit
South Africa, 1901, the height of the second Boer War. Sarah van der Watt and her son are taken from their farm by force to Bloemfontein Concentration Camp where, the English promise: they will be safe.
Johannesburg, 2010. Sixteen-year-old outsider Willem just wants to be left alone with his books and his dog. Worried he's not turning out right; his ma and her boyfriend send him to New Dawn Safari Training Camp. Here they 'make men out of boys'. Guaranteed.
You Will Be Safe Here is a deeply moving novel of connected parts. Inspired by real events, it uncovers a hidden colonial history and present-day darkness while exploring our capacity for cruelty and kindness.
***
[Now the moment is here, Irma doesn't know quite what to do]***
(@BloomsburyBooks, 7 July 2020, 352 pages, ebook, #ARC from @BloomsburyBooks via # NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed, #BlogTour 13 April)
***
***
I feel at a loss and quite bereft after reading this incredible book. How will I go on after this? How can another book hope to heal my bruised and broken heart? I think I need to lie down in a cool, dark room for a while. I am utterly wrecked. This book focuses on the real-life Boer War, which I need to confess I've never heard of. Consider me educated now. I love dual narratives and split timelines and this book is split between 1901 and current times. Score! The 1901 sections focusing on the horrors that befall Sarah Van der Watt and her son Fred when we lovely Brits come to visit are among the most devastating things I've ever read. These sections are mostly made up of her diaries as she describes being treated like animals, the violence of the Brits at the concentration camp and struggles with starvation and disease. I don't know how many times I cried reading this. I found Sarah's story the most compelling. In the present time, Willem is sent to New Dawn Camp by his cruel step-father who thinks he's a bit of a wet rag and the camp will straighten him out. His experiences are not as horrific as Sarah's, obviously but just as compelling. The title is a misnomer by the way, in case you didn't work that out. The camps Sarah and Willem are sent to is the opposite of safe. I need a hug!
