“The
Boer War is razing South Africa to the ground. In the midst of these horrors
are three women fighting for love, survival and justice: Sarah, an angelically
beautiful nurse from England; Louise, her madcap friend; and the dynamic
campaigner Emily Hobhouse.”
Perhaps I started reading the book with too
many pre-conceived ideas about what the story would be like, but I just
couldn’t really get into the book. Some of the melodramatic passages in the
book jarred me out of the story even though I understand that the writer wanted
the meetings between Sarah and Patch to be different from the rest of the book.
For much of the book it also moved too slowly, while the denouement and ending
was again too rushed and abrupt. The urgency I expected from a novel set in the
midst of war just wasn’t there and some of the characters simply remained
little more than shadows.
That said, the book was interesting simply
for being from the viewpoint of British nurses who came to South Africa and
showing (some of) the work of Emily Hobhouse and other women. But the book also
gives an array of viewpoints with regard to the war and war effort through the
eyes of the characters as they move from Britain to South Africa to the Cape
hospitals and at last the concentration camps.
All in all, I wouldn’t say it’s a bad book. The writing just isn’t
completely my taste and the book didn’t stay with me after reading it as I
thought it would. As I say – I might have started reading with too many
pre-conceived ideas. But if you really enjoy historical fiction and don’t mind some
melodrama, this might be the book for you.
Book Gnomes out of ten: Five
No comments:
Post a Comment