A LIGHT IN THE SHADOWS
John Hargreaves
With the Anglo-Boer War as background A Light in the Shadows deals with the conflicting loyalties of a young Boer boy, searching for his place in the world. Growing up on a Free State farm, passionately loving the veldt, Jannie always knew he was different from other boys. His gentle nature also makes him the butt of his brutal elder brother’s viciousness. During a visit to Bloemfontein, he is introduced to the English culture, and experiences an immediate affinity.
Jannie’s safe world falls apart when the Boer War breaks out and at 17, he joins his father and brother to do their duty to their volk, despite his conflicting feelings. The hardships of commando life and a Ceylon prison camp, push him prematurely into adulthood; he comes to abhor the greedy British armies descending like locusts on his beloved country, leaving devasted earth behind and he questions the existence of a loving God.
But more darkness looms: his mother and beloved sussie fall victim to the enemy’s cowardly scorched-earth policy; their farm razed to the ground.
Into this gloom steps Douglas Russell, 2nd lieutenant, British Army; it’s love at first sight for both. But in the face of so much separating them, could their love triumph?
Jannie is later to remember the age-old adage: the darkest hour is always before dawn.