Ladysmith
From the bestselling author of The Last King of Scotland
Published on 17. February 2022
Book
Paperback/Softback
304 pages
978-1-4746-2433-6 (ISBN)
Description
'Captivating ... A highly accomplished historical novel' Washington Post
'Superbly described ... achieves a subtle, disconcerting effect' New York Review of Books
In the dying days of the 19th century, the world's eyes turn to the small South African town of Ladysmith. Under siege from Boer forces, British soldiers and townsfolk wait for rescue. They try to keep their spirits up with parties and cricket matches, but General Buller's relief column cannot break through. All that arrives is danger, disease and starvation.
Amongst a cast of characters ranging from Irish Republican renegades to London literary editors, from Churchill to Gandhi, is one young woman. For Bella Kiernan, the siege represents an unexpected chance to rebel against constricting social and domestic bonds and pursue a life of romance and adventure.
From the bestselling author of THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND
'Superbly described ... achieves a subtle, disconcerting effect' New York Review of Books
In the dying days of the 19th century, the world's eyes turn to the small South African town of Ladysmith. Under siege from Boer forces, British soldiers and townsfolk wait for rescue. They try to keep their spirits up with parties and cricket matches, but General Buller's relief column cannot break through. All that arrives is danger, disease and starvation.
Amongst a cast of characters ranging from Irish Republican renegades to London literary editors, from Churchill to Gandhi, is one young woman. For Bella Kiernan, the siege represents an unexpected chance to rebel against constricting social and domestic bonds and pursue a life of romance and adventure.
From the bestselling author of THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND
Reviews / Votes
Captivating.... A highly accomplished historical novel * Washington Post * Skillful.... Precise [and] affirming.... Foden creates a complex mosaic * Dallas Morning News * LADYSMITH is a haunting, disturbing novel-not only about how things were in a long-forgotten war, but how that war made us what we are * Independent * Once again Giles Foden has carried out an exacting program of reading and research * New York Review of Books * The engine that keeps this novel in motion is not just the progress of the siege but the sense of lives lived before and afterward, of events and the memory of events slanting away into the steepening perspectives of age * New York Review of Books *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Orion Publishing Co
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 196 mm
Width: 128 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
260 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4746-2433-6 (9781474624336)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Giles Foden was born in 1967 and spent much of his early life in Africa. For ten years, he was an editor and writer for the Times Literary Supplement and the Guardian, and his work has since been published in Granta, Vogue, Esquire, The New York Times and Conde Nast Traveller, where he is a contributing editor. His fiction includes THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND, ZANZIBAR, TURBULENCE and FREIGHT DOGS. THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND was made into an Oscar-winning feature film in 2006.