Novel set in South Africa during the Second Boer War and present

15th March 2021

You Will be Safe Here by Damian Barr, novel set in South Africa during the Second Boer War and present.

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 first war was 1880-81 and the second, which is featured in this novel, lasted from 1899-1902. Certainly, when I learned about this period of history at school, it was presented from the British point of view. It focussed on the victory at Mafeking (now called Mahikeng) and I still remember learning about the Relief of Ladysmith. This novel, however, highlights the atrocities that were carried out in the name of Queen and country and strives to offer an insight into the bigger picture to create a more balanced view of that period.

The early story in the book is of British forces arriving to oust the Boer settlers. It is a hugely complex history because the latter traced their ancestry back to European settlers who arrived in the Cape of Good Hope from the 15th Century onwards, to settle the territories. They were in search of farming land and eventually discovered the lure of mineral and diamond mining.

The story opens in the present, more or less, as 16 year old Willem is being dropped at New Dawn Safari Camp. He has been sent there by his mother and her partner to make a man of him. Young Willem would have preferred to remain in his room looking after his pug, Britney but Jan, his stepfather is determined to bludgeon him into a different character.

The story then loops back to the atrocities meted out in the early 20th Century on the Boers by the British and is recorded in the diary of Sarah Van Der Watt, whose dwelling has been raised to the ground, part of the ‘Scorched Earth’ policy that the imperialists implemented. Together with her young son, she has been transported to a concentration camp, run by the British, where the deprivations were horrific. Disease, torture and death were rife.

There is mention of Emily Hobhouse, who in real life actually travelled to see for herself the appalling conditions in the camps and she proved to be quite a thorn in the side of subsequent British governments. She tried to get ministers to find their moral compasses and understand what had happened, but she was generally pilloried until her death.

As the story unfolds, it becomes clear how all the strands in the novel come together. The structure did at times leave me wondering whether I had missed a crucial link but everything ultimately dovetailed and made sense. The story highlights the very difficult politics of South Africa, which are blended into the narrative, and at the end I felt I had been reminded of the tumultuous history that has been endured by so many. It is a story that is designed to encourage broader thought and understanding and not to accept de facto one sided accounts that have hitherto largely been promulgated. It is also the story of a young man, caught up in the lasting tensions, who struggles to develop in his own time, and is – well – forced into an environment where he will harden up, a full circle back to the Victorian values of over a century ago that did so much damage to so many.

A thought provoking and affecting read that blends history with fiction and provides an accessible overview of the last 110 so years.

Tina for the TripFiction Team

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