Opening with an excerpt from a newspaper article from 1884, this book is based on real events, though somewhat reshaped to fit the narrative. We have a number of main characters who are introduced to us early on: John, the doctor going to war; Mary, his wife, bereft and now alone; Gordon, the general they go to save; and Will, his trusty sidekick/unofficial adopted son. From these four perspectives – set in London, Khartorum (Sudan) and everywhere in between – Gillian Slovo looks at the psychology of warfare for the individual. A soldier who must live with the lives he has taken, a doctor who fights to save the very lives the soldiers throw away, a wife who has been left at home in safety, but finds that life as it stands is no longer enough for her, and a young boy, no more than a child, who gets caught up warfare through no fault of his own.

Each of the characters is very human, with believable thoughts and actions, especially for the era in which it is set. Although the scenes set in the war zones are evocative and interesting, what I found most compelling was the story of the wife left behind. This is before women’s liberation, before women had a life outside of the home. What does she do, how does she cope – or not? Flawed as she is, watching her plummet, fall and get back up again is both sad and exhilarating. Although the other characters are also engaging, for me they were only a framework around the main story of this woman who tries to find herself. Gillian Slovo is one of the UK’s major writers: Ice Road was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and Red Dust was filmed with Hilary Swank.

Kate Rockstrom is from Readings Carlton.