Ladysmith

A commandeered train crawls through the night, crammed with Boer farmers, horses and guns. A collision flings everyone to the floor—and, in the silence afterward, a distant cornet plays “Home, Sweet Home.”

Henry Woodd Nevinson is travelling through Natal in October 1899, trying to reach the frontier before the expected fighting begins. His diary catches a war on the brink: ordinary farmers leave their homes to join the Boer forces, while families and refugees wait for any train that might carry them to safety. At Ladysmith, British troops face the threat of being cut off as Boer forces gather nearby. Nevinson watches not only the military danger but the human cost already unfolding on the roads and rails. How much can the town—and those trapped within its orbit—endure?

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