No place for a lady - Ann Harries

It is the turn of the twentieth century and war is razing the Boer Republics of South Africa to the ground. Kitchener's army has intensified its most barbarous campaign: to burn down the homes of thousands of obstinate Boers, forcing a desperate migration to disease-ridden concentration camps. Yet the vastly outnumbered Boers still will not surrender to the British.

The arena of war is considered to be no place for a lady, but in the midst of these horrors is a group of women, each fighting their own battle. Sarah Palmer is an angelically pretty nurse who arrives from England with her plump, madcap friend Louise, intending to work with wounded British soldiers, but also to escape the constraints of home. Their relationship is threatened when Sarah falls deeply in love with a sick Colonial trooper of humble origin as Louise cannot help but become painfully jealous of her friend's natural magnetism and beauty. And then arrives the dynamic Englishwoman, Emily Hobhouse, who has come to bring succour to the destitute and dying women and children and to stir the consciences of Britain over the holocaust of the camps.

As their dramas unfold, so too does the history of the war - the events that turned what was intended to be a quick annexation of the Boer Republics into a protracted, savage conflict; the involvement of the South African blacks promised the vote if they joined the British side; and the injustices and deep inequalities in South Africa which lie at the heart of the story.

No Place for a Lady is historical fiction at its finest. Ann Harries has drawn unforgettable characters and made the period with all its complexities come vividly alive. This is a thrilling, beautifully written, utterly compelling novel.