A thought-provoking and disturbing novel which features fictional characters set in two different eras in South Africa. Brilliantly written and researched, I found myself wanting to dig into the historical issues mentioned when I finished the book. A beautifully written book which highlights the brutality and inhumanity that still exists in parts of the world.

Damian Barr's novel , set in South Africa, spans the period 1910 to 2010 The story involves Wilhelm and his distant ancestor, Sarah van der Watt. Sarah's story is all about her brutal eviction from the family farm by the British, at the height of the Boer War. She and her son were taken to a prison-of-war camp where they were exposed to dreadful accommodation, terrible disease and heartless cruelty.
Some 100 years later it is 16 year old Wilhem, whose only crime was failing to live up to the expectations of his stepfather, who is sent off to a equally dreadfulcamp - this chosen for its reputation as somewhere that makes men out of boys! What it does, in realit,y is expose Wilhem to endless sadistic cruelty and bullying. History repeating itself.
Barr pulls no punches and some of the descriptive passages are positively visceral. But the strong storyline is extraordinarily gripping albeit a sad reflection on the morality of those in power . Victims of their own unshakeable convictions that their actions are improving lives rather than destroying them. Powerful writing.

You Will Be Safe Here is a debut novel by Damian Barr, who I was already a big fan of on Twitter and his brilliant Big Scottish Book Club on TV, so my hopes were high when I started reading this book. And they were far exceeded!

Set in South Africa and covering pivotal points of that complex nation's history, You Will Be Safe Here begins in 2010 with Willem, a teenage boy, being taken by his family to a military style training camp. The reader is then dropped into the epistolary style 1901 diary of Sarah van der Watt, addressed to her husband who is fighting the British at the height of the second Boer War. Sarah and her six year old son Frederick are taken from their farm by force - with a mix of cruelty and manners that feels peculiarly and disturbingly British - to a concentration camp at Bloemfontein.

The narrative doesn't then flit between Sarah and Willem, as I thought it might. Instead it uses their powerful stories, and those of Willem's gran and mother (Willem was born in 1994, on the day Nelson Mandela was elected as South Africa's first black President), to stitch together an overarching story of South Africa that I doubt has been told like this, in its entirety, anywhere else. This story's themes of oppression, resistance, prejudice, fear and survival may feel familiar but perhaps in separate historical contexts. You Will Be Safe Here gives them a faintly depressing cyclical treatment - but there is, as we know, hope. Barriers are gradually broken down, though by acceptance, diversity and change; not by war and hate.

Aside from the compelling storytelling (I really couldn't put this book down during the long Boer War section), Damian Barr writes like an angel, albeit one who isn't shy of depicting violence (yet never gratuitously). I loved and re-read individual sentences of wonderful imagery and I found the dialogue immersive. I applaud Damian Barr for tackling such an epic, yet little known, history and complex topic with his first novel and can't wait to read more from this incredibly skilful, deft and compassionate writer.

It’s October 2010 and Willem Brandt is being dropped off at New Dawn Training Camp with a backpack full of expensive items to help him survive his time there. From khaki trousers and boots, to mess tins and a hunting knife, the list was comprehensive, suggesting to the recipient that this would be quite an adventure. This camp is quite something. They boast about making boys into men and giving them the skills to survive which many parents feel valuable now that there is no conscription for National Service. This is a training camp that takes away modern comforts, a place where no phones are allowed and speaking Afrikaans is a must. The English language is completely prohibited.

This training camp didn’t come cheap of course but it seems Willem’s soon-to-be stepfather, Jan, is determined to impress Irma, Willem’s mother, even if it does cost him a small fortune. After all, he is sending away the one thing that Irma idolizes which means he will get her all to himself.

Before this story truly gets underway though we are then introduced to Mrs. Sarah van der Watt of Mulberry Farm in Ventersburg. The year is 1901 and she is concerned that her farm will be taken from her by the English unless Samuel can return victorious but from where we are unsure.

“I ‘ve never met an English man, except in novels. There’s strangely little to do now but wait.

I’ m getting so carried away I nearly forgot dinner – we eat like Kings now! The more we eat, the less we leave for the Khakis.”

I can only assume by this statement that she is talking about the British Army who wears khaki and because of the date, 1901, that this part of the story is set during the Second Boer War.

The British finally arrive on her farm to either take whatever they want or destroy what is left. Leaving not a trace of the farm behind, Mrs. Sarah van der Watt and her son Frederick are transported from their home to Bloemfontein concentration camp, although at the time of their arrival it was designated as a refugee camp to all those it was about to house.

“Our camp – there are others – had 250 tents. The official limit is supposedly fifteen per tent. So, there are at least 3,000 of us. A week ago, we were all farmers. Now there are no farms. We are ‘refugees’.”

Refugees guarded by soldiers who carry guns and where fences are covered in wire with lookout towers strategically placed to keep an eye on the goings-on below. It sounds distinctively more like a prison with so many rules that must never be broken. Welcome to the Prison Camps of the Boer Wars, something the British should be extremely embarrassed about.

We then flash forward again, this time to Johannesburg during 1976.

Rayna is part of the privileged white community in Johannesburg and through her eye’s we begin to realise what living in this country would be like for both English immigrates and natives trying to live side by side, although there is a clear divide where the white community feels completely superior.

Pregnant after being raped with her first child, she marries young and then losses her parents in a fatal car crash. Her husband then uses the excuse to run off to the mines leaving her to fend for herself and her young son. After several months of feeling sorry for herself, she finally realises that she needs to become the sole breadwinner and secures a job at Africa’s largest train station.

It is during her time here that she meets Johannes, and soon a friendship followed by an affair follows. To begin with, everything is fantastic. They meet each week at the same hotel, forgetting about their other commitments to enjoy each other’s company. It is only once Rayna reveals she is pregnant that things start to deteriorate. So now Rayna is on her own once again but with not one but two children, Piet and Irma, to look after.

Finally, in 1993, we are reintroduced to a younger Irma. This time she is just 16 and pregnant with Willem. It is through her story that we are forced to face the reality of life just as the South African Apartheid was drawing to a close.

It is a country that clearly has hopes of a better future but is that how things actually turn out? Do the characters in this novel really end up better off, and how do the lives of Samuel and Sarah van der Watt link to those of Rayna, Irma, and Willem?

My Thoughts on You Will Be Safe Here

Reading this beautifully crafted prose by Damian has only highlighted by naivety to what has both happened and to some extend is still happening across the world. I feel ashamed that, until reading this, I was not actually aware that the British created these forced ‘refugee’ prison camps during the Boer Wars. This is part of my history, just like the actions of the British during the World Wars, but we are not taught about these times during our school years – perhaps because they can hardly be called our glory years.

It is also eye-opening to discover exactly how people were, and potentially still are, treated because of their race. I could never imagine having a discussion with people, highlighting that things have progressed slightly because the queues in the supermarkets are now mixed-race whereas before they would have been forced to form separate lines. These are discussions happening during my lifetime, not some distance time previously, which just makes me ashamed of the human population in general.

To think that in South Africa mixed-race marriages were prohibited until the mid-1980’s that the first couple were able to legally marry is just mind-boggling and something I am still reflecting on after reading Damian’s book.

One of the main reasons for this story comes though from the extensive research Damian has done following the murder of Raymond Buys. A young lad sent to a training camp, similar to the one Willem was forced to attend, designed to make boys into men. A camp created to beat the ‘gay’ out of people, the stupidity out of those with learning difficulties and kill off all the natural adolescent teenage boy angst turning boys from petulant children into young adults that would be seen as respectable. In truth, it sounds like nothing more than a modern-day concentration camp.

It’s not very often I feel such strong emotions when reading a book as I did with this one. Parts of this story are written with such raw emotion, I felt it in every torturous paragraph. I wanted to scream out for the pain and suffering that was being inflicted upon others; at times even putting the book down for fear of getting far too emotionally involved.

To say my eyes have been opened is an understatement. You Will Be Safe Here is so much more than a novel spreading across several decades, it is an education that will stay with me long after finishing that final chapter.

What a powerful read. I’ve been thinking of what I should say and no matter what it won’t do it justice. You really need to read for yourself. It’s not what I was expecting, to read about two different times. Very sad but an honest account of the lives these people lead. Very well written and easy to read. Flowed well and once you started you didn’t want to put it down. Excitement to see where the book is taking you and what comes next

I know very little about South African history, and this book opened my eyes to a lot of issues. There are two, possibly three, distinct strands to the story - the first in 1901 in the Boer War when Sarah van der Watt and her son Fred are forcibly removed from their farm by the English to a camp in Bloemfontein; then there is a back story of Rayna and her daughter Irma; and finally Irma's son Willem, a sensitive child trying to find his place in the world, who is sent to a special camp to 'make him a man'.

Throughout the book is a tale of people abusing and manipulating others who do not match their criteria - by colour, strength, sexual orientation or just by being 'different'. The description of Sarah's Boer camp is heartbreaking, and while the aim was not extermination, for many, especially the children, that was just the result through disease and neglect. Forward in time to Willem's life in camp, and things are not really much different, with the strong preying on the weak.

A fascinating, disturbing, uncomfortable and very sad book, in part based on real events, which makes us wonder how far we have really progressed. Well written, you can see and smell the settings for the events, and you certainly identify and empathise with the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing PLC for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

In 1901, during the Second Boer War, Sarah van der Watt and her son are forced from their farm by British soldiers and taken to a concentration camp. Sarah keeps a secret diary detailing life in the camps, whilst she tries to keep her son safe and hopes for the return of her husband.

Over a hundred years later, outsider Willem loves reading books and his pug, Britney. He doesn't have any friends and is being bullied at school. His mum and her boyfriend decide to send him to the New Dawn Safari Camp where he will 'learn' how to be a man.

This book is absolutely heartbreaking but it is one of the best books I have ever read, I was completely gripped. It covers over one hundred years of South African history and the way the different storylines are connected is so intricate and clever. Beautifully written, You Will Be Safe Here shows the powerful link between the past and the present, and why we must learn from our history but never take our rights for granted. This isn't always an easy read but a very important one nonetheless.

You Will Be Safe Here: symbolic, raw and unforgettable

So I’ve been a bit of a fan of the writer Damian Barr for a while – from his social media and also from The Big Scottish Book Club, a TV programme in which he interviews the biggest names in books from across Scotland, the UK and beyond. But I hadn’t read any of his actual books until now. Hence I jumped at the chance when I was offered the opportunity to read and review Damian’s debut novel You Will Be Safe Here to publicise it’s recent paperback publication.

Now, as well as being a fan of Damian Barr, I also have a deep respect for him as a writer. You Will Be Safe Here is courageous and powerful – not just because it is such a bold story in its own right, but also because Barr’s prose is so stark and uncomfortable. Furthermore, the skilful structure of the novel enhances its power, subtly interweaving the second Boer War with post-apartheid South Africa.

You Will Be Safe Here is the story of Sarah van der Watt and her young son Fred who are transported to Bloemfontein Concentration Camp in 1901 following British soldiers burning their family farm to the ground. This is during the second Boer War (1899-1902), and as Barr points out in his historical note at the end of this novel the Boer Wars are ‘now almost fondly remembered as a great Victorian adventure.’ In this brutal, poignant novel, Sarah and her son portray the thousands of Boer women and children who were sent to camps for their ‘own safety and at great expense‘ to the British. What they experience is definitely not what I would consider a great adventure.

It is also the story of Willem, who was born during the 1994 general election that elected Nelson Mandela as President of South Africa. The symbolism surrounding the date of Willem’s birth is so powerful. As Willem grows up he is often regarded as an outsider and called derogatory names. With his mother wanting to solve his ‘difference’ in society, at the age of 16 he sent to the New Dawn Safari Camp where he’s told ‘it’ll sort you out‘ as the camp ‘make men out of boys.’

For me You Will Be Safe Here is a truly unforgettable novel. I’m not going to shy away from it, I found it deeply uncomfortable too. Especially as I learnt of the cold brutality of the British military during the Boer War and the legacy of that brutality that has shaped South Africa since. This still haunts the country today. It has been days since I finished this novel and I still can’t stop thinking about it. But that’s the true power of this book – it is seeped in emotional intelligence, thought provoking and haunting.

This is a novel that educated me, it also made me cry, frightened me but it definitely warmed my heart too. This is a book that needs to be read.

For me to be given the opportunity to review You Will Be Safe Here to help publicise it is a true privilege.
You Will Be Safe Here was released in paperback on 2nd April so it is available for you now to purchase and read.

Thank you to Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for inviting me to this blog tour. To follow the tour please see below.
https://noveldelights.com/2020/04/14/you-will-be-safe-here-symbolic-raw-and-unforgettable/

I feel at a loss and quite bereft after reading this incredible book. How will I go on after this? How can another book hope to heal my bruised and broken heart? I think I need to lie down in a cool, dark room for a while. I am utterly wrecked. This book focuses on the real-life Boer War, which I need to confess I’ve never heard of. Consider me educated now. I love dual narratives and split timelines and this book is split between 1901 and current times. Score! The 1901 sections focusing on the horrors that befall Sarah Van der Watt and her son Fred when we lovely Brits come to visit are among the most devastating things I’ve ever read. These sections are mostly made up of her diaries as she describes being treated like animals, the violence of the Brits at the concentration camp and struggles with starvation and disease. I don’t know how many times I cried reading this. I found Sarah’s story the most compelling. In the present time, Willem is sent to New Dawn Camp by his cruel step-father who thinks he’s a bit of a wet rag and the camp will straighten him out. His experiences are not as horrific as Sarah’s, obviously but just as compelling. The title is a misnomer by the way, in case you didn’t work that out. The camps Sarah and Willem are sent to is the opposite of safe. I need a hug!

You Will Be Safe Here is a tale of South Africa and parts of its troubled history. Told in two distinct timelines, the 1900’s and more recently, 2010.

There’s Sarah, a Boer woman whose husband has left to fight the British, leaving her, her son and servants at home. The British milithen arrive, take all their possessions, set fire to the home and take them all to a concentration camp. The conditions were horrific with sickness and starvation rife among the prisoners.

Then there is Willem, in 2010, his mother and stepfather leave him at the New Dawn camp to ‘make a man’ of him.

Both tales are brutal and heartbreaking. This is beautifully written and packed with emotion and a little hope. It’s shocking and utterly compelling and will stay with me for a long time. A stunning, haunting read.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this for free.. This is my honest, unbiased review.

4.5 stars
This was a beautifully written, haunting book which will stay with me for a long time.

I didn’t know much about South African history so I found it fascinating to learn more about it now. The realisation that the British created the idea of a concentration camp was a sobering one, especially as you realise the events written about in this book could have actually happened to people. It made me feel quite sick whilst I read about the appalling conditions there and feel the desperation of Sarah as she tries to protect her son.

In the more recent timeline we follow Willem who is struggling with a mother who is trying to change who he is as she thinks he’s too soft. I felt desperately sorry for Willem who seemed such a lovely boy and just wanted to reach into the book and give him a huge cuddle, while also giving his mother a hard talking to. His friendship with Geldenhuys was lovely to read about and helped add some light relief to the story.

The author does a great job of setting the scene in this book with the vivid descriptions making me feel that I was right there experiencing everything alongside the characters. I even felt at times that I could smell things the way they would, particularly in the concentration camp which I think is proof of how well this book is written. The author manages to include the African dialogue and some of their culture into the story which further helps the reader envision the country the story is set in.

Overall I thought this was a fantastically written, compelling story that explores Africa’s rich and dramatic history. It is quite a sad story but it’s also an important one as a lot of the issues and prejudices discussed are sadly still happening in the world. It’s definitely a story that will deeply effect the reader and stay with you for a long time.

Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Bloomsbury for my copy of this book via Netgalley.

You Will Be Safe Here is set in South Africa, and explores the country's complicated history from the Boer War in 1901 to modern times. A dual narrative exposes life in internment camp during the Second Boer War and life in a 21st century paramilitary training camp, which promises to sort out wayward boys.

Our introduction to the novel is through the diary of Sarah van der Watt, owner of a small holding in the Orange Free State where she lives with her 6 year-old-son, Fred, and her two servants while her husband is off fighting the British troops in the Boer War. As part of the Scorched Earth policy, Sarah and Fred are rounded up by the British army, their farm is raised to the ground, and they are taken to the Bloemfontein camp, the largest of the many camps established to inter the women and children of South Africa at the time.

"You will be safe here," are the words uttered to Sarah upon arrival, but couldn't be further from the truth. Life in the camp is a nightmare, made worse by the fact that Sarah refuses to sign an oath of allegiance to the British. Because of this, and the fact that her husband is fighting against the British, she is classed as an 'undesirable'- her rations reduced and she watches on helplessly as sickness and typhoid spread like wildfire among the detainees. One of the most shocking pieces of information that stuck with me from this book was that more women and children died in these concentration camps than soldiers during the war.

Fast forward to 2010, and we meet Willem Brandt. His narrative is inspired by the true story of Raymond Buys, a young boy who died in a paramilitary training camp in South Africa in 2010.

Willem is born in 1994 on the day of the elections which see Nelson Mandela take on the presidency of the country. He grows up with Irma and Rayna, his mother and grandmother. He is a bookish young boy who doesn't fit in well with his classmates. When his mother, Irma, begins dating a alpha male, Jan, a man who doesn't really 'get' Willem, life really deteriorates. When Willem is sixteen, Jan decides that a stint at 'New Dawn' camp will sort the boy out - will toughen him up and make a man of him.

Sarah and Willem's narratives are seemingly unrelated, but overlap beautifully in the middle of the book, when Willem's school visits the Anglo-Boer War Museum on the site of the Bloemfontein camp where Sarah and Fred were held.

This book makes for a very sobering read with Barr exposing the horror of the British concentration camps, and contradicting the saying that the Boer War was the "last gentleman's war." There is little evidence of humanity shown to the interns where food and medicines were denied to those most in need. Likewise in New Dawn where Willem ends up.

Not an easy book to read, but a very important one which will leave you angry, outraged and heart-broken at the way some people are treated. I know that this is a book that will stay with me for a long time.

A very special book.

At first I was unsure how the two narratives would come together, but Barr does this elegantly and it really makes an impact. Poetic and empathetic, You Will Be Safe Here elegantly conjures up two worlds. Characters are excellently drawn. Would recommend this to anyone who needs something with meaning.

An expansive and uncomfortable read about South Africa’s troubles through the Boer War, apartheid and most recently in Rangers camps where troubled boys are promised ‘you will be safe here’.
The Afrikaans women and children incarcerated in the unspeakable Bloemfontein concentration camp in 1901 were promised the same thing.
Barr’s debut novel is meticulously researched, deeply troubling and yet a testament too, to love and courage.
He personalises vividly the agony of a divided nation with compassion and insight.
The poetry of the natural settings makes the ugliness of human cruelty even more piercing.
A privilege to read my pre-release copy. Thank you #NetGalley and #BloomsburyPublishing.

I struggled for days to write a review. This book has moved me to distraction.. The subject is raw and painful, the writing powerful and pitch perfect. I am an emotional wreck. This was true??? I am speechless. What a powerful and heartbreaking read. Kudos to the author for writing from the heart.. I want to hug him and congratulate him at the same time. He might need to help me up from the floor first though.

Get this book onto school reading lists.

A book so beautifully written and one so moving.

We are in South Africa at the height of the second Boer War in 1901 and we are introduced to Sarah van der Watt and her son. They are taken from their farm by force to Bloemfontein Camp where, the English promise: they will be safe.

The book then takes us to Johannesburg, 2010 where we meet Willem, a Sixteen-year-old outsider who just wants to be left alone with his books and his dog. Worried he’s not turning out right, his mam and her boyfriend send him to the New Dawn Safari Training Camp where they ‘make men out of boys’.

You Will Be Safe Here is a a book that is not only deeply moving but because it has been inspired by real events, it not only makes you think, it also uncovers a hidden colonial history, one you might not have ever come across, had forgotten about or one you had chosen to gloss over for whatever reason. For me, Willem is an unsung hero, someone who will remind you of someone you know or knew.

For anyone who is interested and intrigued by South African and British History, this one ticks boxes!

I love a book that covers a factual event and this heart wrenching story does not disappoint, with its tale of the Boer War.

The story is told in 2 timelines 1901 and the current date. In 1901 Sarah Van der Watt and her son Fred live on a farm, her husband is away fighting. They are captured by the British who burn her farm down and take them to a concentration camp. The diary she secretly writes in the camp is heartbreaking, they were terribly treated, with starvation and disease commonplace.

In the present time Willem aged 16 is sent to the New Dawn Camp, his overbearing and aggressive step father thinks the camp will make a man out of him.

I found the two stories fascinating and loved how it all came together at the end. This is hard to read at times as the author tells the story in a very impactful and moving way. Being based on a true story bought this book to life for me and opened my eyes to the cruelty of this war.

This was such an interesting read for me as I can’t remember covering this in history and I finished this wanting to learn more. This will stay in my thoughts a long time after reading it.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.

Incredibly engrossing novel full of violence and oppression. Concentration camps vs modern masculinity camps draw a direct line of trauma and torture at the hands of ideology that disallows individual growth within the context of White South African identities.

Beautiful, heartbreaking and harrowing, set so tragically in a part of history we will never see as anything less than damning. So well written, with captivating characters and an unrivalled plot, I am so thankful to have been given the chance to read this

Beautifully written, heart-breaking and a blistering debut from Damian Barr. "You Will Be Safe Here" showed me a world I knew nothing of. I had no idea of the history or more recent practices. The book was hugely interesting and I couldn't put it down. It's clearly been meticulously researched and I found the statistics staggering. This book will stay with me for a very long time.