Giles Foden also wrote "The Last King of Scotland".
Giles Foden, who grew up in Africa, was for three years an as sistant editor of the Times Literary Supplement and then joined the staff of the Guardian. In 1998 Foden won the Whitbread First Novel Award for the Last King of Scotland, which was followed in 1999 by Ladysmith - two novels which, according to Alan Massie writing in the Scotsman, 'establish him as the most original and interesting novelist of his generation'.
YA-When the small British town of Ladysmith comes under attack by the Boer army late in 1899, every living thing focuses on survival. When, finally, the British forces enter the South African town, no one left has enough strength to cheer them. The main character, Bella Kiernan, a barmaid in her father's establishment, and her sister, Jane, begin their adult lives among this chaos. They find and lose lovers, develop their own separateness, and eventually part, never to see one another again. As dramatic as the story becomes, with war wounds, diseases, and countless deaths described, life persists in its cycle and people cope as best they can and make do with what fate has dealt them. Individual characters tell their part of the story in alternating chapters, adding a variety of perspectives and providing a wide overview of the situation. Real people who were actually there enter the picture, including Winston Churchill and Mohandas Gandhi. The captivating novel, with its strong story line, provides a kind of eyewitness description of the Boer War, the destruction, and the effect of the conflict on the survivors.-Pam Johnson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
Under siege for 120 days during the Boer War (1899-1901), the motley inhabitants of a South African town go to pieces in Foden's meticulously researched but ultimately unfocused historical novel inspired by letters written by Foden's great-grandfather, a British trooper in the war. Though the Boer forces surround Ladysmith, home of a British garrison, the townspeople don't expect the fighting to last long. The English General Buller is said to be on the way with reinforcements vastly outnumbering the Boer forces. But the siege wears on for months, and the people of Ladysmith become accustomed to horrific wartime hardships. In addition to the destruction and carnage of the ongoing shelling, a combination of too much livestock and too little food and water cause pestilence and famine. The difficulties and indignities exact a heavy psychic toll as well. Martial law is in force; homeless women and children shelter in holes in the ground and bathe in a dung-filled river; and horseflesh becomes a staple. Foden (The Last King of Scotland) concentrates his story alternately on many different characters and families, including a pioneering film journalist and his skeptical print-journalism colleagues, a covert Irish nationalist running a hotel with his daughters, soldiers of all ranks and loyalties, indentured African natives, European expats and even such historical figures as Churchill and Gandhi. This spreads the narrative so thin, however, that no true protagonist emerges. Pulled in several directions by the multiple stories and the many shifts of narrative point of view, the reader never comes to truly understand any of these people, whose lives seem sketchy against the almost painfully vivid depictions of the war. But Foden's simple, elegant writing and his ability to conjure milieu go a long way toward redeeming his scattered tale. (Apr.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
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