Ladysmith (First Edition)

Giles Foden

ISBN 10: 0375409203 / ISBN 13: 9780375409202

Published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 2000

About this Item

Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. (New York), 2000. First American edition. First printing. Hardbound. New in new dust jacket. An unread copy, tight and clean.

Seller Inventory # aj2

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Ladysmith (First Edition)
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
• Publication Date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0375409203
• ISBN 13: 9780375409202
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: New
• Dust Jacket Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

From the author of the Whitbread Award-winning The Last King of Scotland comes a spellbinding tale of a town under siege in colonial Africa and a young woman who finds love and freedom in the midst of a devastating war.

The year is 1899, and the South African town of Ladysmith is surrounded by Boer forces. No one expects the siege to last, but it does, for a harrowing 120 days -- four months of dire emergency: food shortages during which bread is made with laundry detergent and the soldiers' horses are killed to feed the troops; bombings that force the townspeople into tunnels and makeshift shelters. But in the thick of shells and shrapnel, disease and deprivation, one young woman discovers an unexpected freedom: a chance to break old loyalties and establish new loves. Even as the world she knows collapses around her, Bella Kiernan finds the courage to escape from convention, to rebel against the political forces that threaten her homeland and to pursue her life's greatest romance.  Based in part on the letters of Foden's great-grandfather, a British trooper, Ladysmith is a magnificent love story, a vivid portrait of the first modern war of the twentieth century and clear confirmation of Giles Foden's standing as one of Britain's most formidably talented young novelists.

About the Author

Giles Foden has been assistant editor of the Times Literary Supplement and is now on the staff of The Guardian. The Last King of Scotland won the Whitbread First Novel Award and the Somerset Maugham Prize. He lives in London.