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You Will Be Safe Here

You Will Be Safe Here

Author(s): Damian Barr

Location(s): South Africa

Genre(s): Fiction

Era(s): 1901 & 2010

Location

Content

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.

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Book Reviews

Lead Review

Author: Tina Hartas

It is a while since I gave any real thought to the Boer Wars but now, given there are many people re-examining British colonial history, it seems appropriate to delve a little deeper. The...

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