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.

An unforgettable story tracking two tales- one during the Boer War in the early 1900s and the second following a boy who is forced to attend a wilderness camp in modern day South Africa. Both tales combine to demonstrate strong lessons about choice, imprisonment and expectation. A really beautiful story, which serves to share the tale of the British undertaking in South Africa during the Boer War. Too often, tales of this time are lost behind colonial history-making, so this was a book I learned vast amounts from.

I found this to be a disturbing yet fascinating book to read.
The underlying links to real historical events was what kept me engaged. 
I never really warmed to the characters, either in the historical or modern sections of this dual time-frame novel. 
I ask myself would I read another fictional book by this author?
At present the  jury is out on that question. 
I give my thanks to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for a copy in exchange for this review.

This book was a joy to read as well as being one of the most clever books I have ever read. I think this book has taught me more than any other book, as well as making me bitterly ashamed of my lack of knowledge regarding certain historical events. 
I loved the journey through time and the multiple points of view. This book was a boat on a slow meandering river, and I was enjoying the journey so much I couldn't get off.

This is an easy 5 stars. It is important and horrifying and I became so absurdly invested in all the characters, I felt although I was right there with them,

WOW! What an incredible book which is based on a true story.

The stories are set in South Africa over one hundred years from the Boer Wars. We meet Mrs Sarah van der Watt and her young son. The British have been burning Afrikaner farms and Sarah and her son find themselves in a concentration camp where they suffer appallingly. She keeps a diary and hopes her husband will find her there.

Willem is a different sort of lad and is sent to a harsh military camp by his mother and her overbearing husband. He's very close to his grandmother, Rayna and she's horrified when she learns what they've done.

The stories are intertwined so cleverly. A museum visit and history lesson for Willem and his classmates tell of the horrors of life in the concentration camp during the Boer Wars and Willem's time at the New Dawn Camp is mirrored with life then.  In both stories they are told "you will be safe here".

I absolutely loved this story and am still thinking about it now.

A vivid and harrowing read due to the setting and narrative however I was gripped by the characters and intrigued to see how the two halves of the novel were linked even though they were set 100 years apart. I would recommend this to readers who want a challenging read which is intelligent and well-written.

An uncomfortable read, but full of empathy and detail which depicts an often forgotten part of history.

This is not my usual genre and I am so glad to be given the opportunity to read this book. 
The story is set in South Africa and begins in the Boer war and spans the next hundred years. It deals with the predjuice, segregation and hatred. How the British set up containment camps, this really shocked me. This book is hard hitting and the author does not pull any punches. At times I found this book very distressing and emotional. Being based on a true story has opened my eyes.
This is a fascinating story of not only the Boer war but more importantly the on going division and struggle which this beautiful country is still undergoing. Personally I think that this book has a place in our schools. Beautifully written, a must read, highly recommended and an easy five stars. 
I would like to thank the author, Bloomsbury Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC in return for giving an honest review.

All the feels!! This is a beautifully written book based on the true story. Author shows the roots of the current issues plaguing the South Africa which are based deep in the past and also in the current climate of toxic masculinity which  permanates people's lives. 
The book starts with a diary from the Boer War, and it talks about the concentration camps in which the characters are detained supposedly for their own safety. This theme is then echoed in the contemporary conversion camps that exist in the South Africa. Again, the safety is in numbers-anyone seen as different is rejected, making themselves vulnerable. The contemporary part is a story of those who don't fit in and repression they suffer. The author presents story of the wars as a beginning of the perpetual cycle of violence thal is present now in South African nationalism. The characters are complex and well written, and the language itself vivid in places carries the weight of the subject well, without being too gory or sentimental. All together - the hype around this book is well deserved.