Welcome to Litsy!

From the #tbr shelf 📚📚

#BeginsWith #You

I meant to do my #bookspin list last night, but I got distracted by the damn Hallmark Christmas movies. @TheAromaofBooks I swear I didn‘t peek before I posted this list.

#sorrynotsorry #bookhaul where the majority of books are for me.

Thank you Cindy for my lovely birthday gifts 😁♥️ lovely to come home too! Not heard of either of these books before. And that book journal is the same one I‘ve been using for the last 5 years!
The stationery is brilliant - I‘ll let you know about the snack.
Thank you 😘 I‘m up for a re-run visit!

Not an easy book to read at all, but very easy to get lost in.

I found the first part fascinating; life in South African concentration camps where the English interred Afrikaner women and children. It‘s a subject I knew nothing about and I learned a lot.

The second half, about an alleged to be a gay-conversion camp for boys was as good, but felt a little rushed.

Thanks so much for sending this to me Kate! @kathedron

I ordered this book for the #pop21 #FeaturesThreeGenerations prompt. Can‘t remember whose post put this one on my #ReadersRadar but it has lots of Litsy Love 💕

This book is *brutal* but so good!
It is two connected narratives: a woman and her little boy in a British-run concentration camp during the Boer wars (about which I was wholly ignorant) and, a century later, a teenaged misfit sent to a boot camp to "toughen him up". Thus the legacy and perpetuation of violence. Thank goodness for Helen, and Willem's gran Rayna: without these women and the love they bear, it would have been just too bleak.

I am posting one book per day from my extensive to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it, I just do. Some will be old, some will be new. Don‘t judge me - I have a lot of books. Join the fun if you want.
This is day 131
#BooksToRead #TBRPile #TBRMountain

First this is the story of mother and son placed by the British in a concentration camp during the Boer war. Then the stories of mother, daughter and grandson starting in 1970s Johannesburg and ending with the grandson Willem‘s story which brings us up to date. Sensitive, bookish Willem is forced to a camp for boys to “toughen him up.” Each story had its own sadness, there were gentle links between them, and my heart just broke for Willem 💔

Hands down!!!!! Without a doubt!!!!!! This is the BEST novel I have read in 2020!!!!! (After 32 novels!!!!) I have been a literature teacher for 14 years and next year I am starting a reading blog/website. This novel will be my first book review!!! WOW!!!! AMAZING!!!

Such a brilliant and heartfelt exploration of the human impact of the Boer War!

Part of this well-written novel is about the Concentration Camps during the Boer War in S. Africa in the early 1900s. This connects with modern times & the story of teenager Willem who is sent to an abusive wilderness program run by a racist man whose beliefs stem from the British during the Boer War.
A difficult read - so many hurtful despicable characters. However, Willem has one adult - his gran - who believes, understands & loves him.

Book number 4 for #bookspinbonanza. This was a riveting story based around a country (South Africa) and time (the second Boer war) that is didn‘t know much about. Really interesting. There were a few times where I rolled my eyes at some cliched character choices but the plot more than made up for it. This is an impressive debut novel and I will definitely read another novel by this author. ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

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.

https://orlando-books.blog/2020/04/11/you-will-be-safe-here-by-damian-barr-book-...

New episode of Books On The Go up now! 🎧 We discuss how to support your local bookstores during COVID-19. Our book of the week is ‘You Will Be Safe Here‘ by @Damian_Barr . Loved it! ❤️ #stayhomeandread

Coming up on the podcast - these books. 📚🤓 have you read any of these? We‘d love to hear your thoughts.

I‘ve been shopping ( with my 2 Audible credits ) for #booked2020 👍🏻Thankyou to @Abailliekaras for the tagged recommendation for subject mostly new to you ( Boer War) and Thanks to you @Lindy 👍🏻as I got Little Weirds For read in a day ❤️

I loved this! I expected it to be grim but it has some wonderful, uplifting, strong women characters and I learnt much about South Africa, the Boer War and its aftermath. Written from interesting perspectives - a mother in a concentration camp, a teenage boy & a single mother. There‘s an undercurrent of violence & the tension builds. A great ear for dialogue and characters written with care & compassion. Recommended.

I think I need to read this one soon! It sounds like a gripping read...

#Shelter
#LetsTravelAugust

Powerful and evocative writing about two different historical periods in South Africa, both which I feel slightly ashamed to say I have limited knowledge about. This book has led to the need to understand and know more. Just for igniting this desire I love this book. A devastatingly gorgeous book.

I couldn't put this book down today as the author told two stories a century apart. In one set in 1901 a boer mother and child are interred in british concentration camps and treated as little more than animals. Then as apartheid changes into anc government a vulnerable yng man is sent to an extreme right wing training camp for young men. The book touches on race as well as family and is fascinating, well told, and absorbing.

Guys. 😭 I am devastated. The beginning was a little rocky because I know nothing about the Second Boer War or South Africa, but after orienting myself, I was quickly sucked in. Two parallel (and connected stories) of a woman and her son in a British concentration camp during the war and a boy in the present, sent to a brutal boot camp. A moving story. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #listyatoz

It's disturbing though that we continuously repeat history, destroy human spirit and yet human spirit always rises. If you close your eyes to the dates in the book (1901) it could be that you're reading about current affairs.

Set in the internment camps of Bloemfontein in the 2nd Boer War and a modern day camp that ‘makes men out of boys‘. Brutality under the guise of safe-keeping. How humans can be so wilfully/ casually cruel is astounding. This will keep you thinking long after you‘ve finished. History that affects the present. “You will be safe here” was said to both groups of people - and they weren‘t. A truly beautiful book despite the subject. Highly recommended.

I'm going in....

Thank you @Bloomsbury_Publishing for sending me this book!! I look forward to reading it!! 🎉🎊🎉🎊

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This is a wonderful debut novel that left me heartbroken yet hopeful. It is shocking and compelling and I feel as though the characters will remain with me for some time. Bravo Mr. Barr!

Only 10% in and am sure I‘m going to enjoy this one.