The Lost History of Stars

April 24, 2017
In his new novel, Boling tries to do for the Boer War what he did for the Spanish Civil War in his previous novel, Guernica, but with uneven dramatic results. The year is 1900 when 13-year-old Lettie, her siblings, and her mother are removed from their family farm in South Africa by British soldiers and taken to a concentration camp for Dutch settlers. Lettie’s father, grandfather, and older brother are off fighting with a Boer commando. In the camp, deprivations are many and things are especially hard on the young children, many of whom succumb to various diseases. Lettie maintains her spirits by keeping a journal and by recalling her life on the farm, especially going out at night with her grandfather to watch the stars. She also slowly becomes friendly with a British soldier, Tommy Maples, who is sickened by the way his countrymen treat the Boers. He gives her a copy of David Copperfield and introduces Lettie to the solace of great literature. Nothing good, though, can come of this relationship, which ends on an unsurprisingly tragic note. While the author does a convincing job of portraying the cruelty of the British towards their Boer captives, as well as the perspective of the Boer warriors and their kin, there is a certain narrative predictability that prevents the story from landing fully. Lettie, though, in her resilient nature might remind readers of another young South African protagonist, Peekay of Bryce Courtenay’s similarly inspiring The Power of One.

April 1, 2017

The author of the award-winning Guernica returns with a compelling story of war, violence, and tragedy. Fourteen-year-old Lettie and her family are Boers, descendents of Dutch settlers who journeyed to the north plains of South Africa from the Cape to raise their families away from British colonialism. But the Anglo-Boer War has swooped in, sending Lettie's father, grandfather, and older brother off to fight the British. The novel opens with Lettie and her family forced from their farm by British soldiers and sent to a concentration camp. Lettie escapes from the camp's harsh conditions via her memories, when nights of stargazing with her grandfather and the warmth of home seem to belong to another life. Her fantasies of becoming a famous writer seem fleeting, until she befriends a British soldier who defies everything she thought she knew about the enemy; in the process, she also discovers what the power of family loyalty can accomplish. Narrated from Lettie's point of view, and swiftly fluctuating from a nostalgic past to a present filled with uncertainty, this story gives a touching and detailed perspective on a cruel war in which children are the innocent victims. VERDICT This beautifully narrated work will appeal to fans of both historical and general fiction. [Library marketing.]--Adriana Delgado, Palm Beach Cty. Lib., Loxahatchee, FL

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2017

In this title set at the turn of the 19th century in South Africa, Grandpa "Oupa" Gideon sneaks Lettie Venter outside at night to study the constellations before he goes away. Soon the Venter women and children, who are Dutch, will watch as the British army burns their farm to the ground and relocates them to a concentration camp while their men fight in the Second Boer War for South African land, diamonds, and gold. Once Lettie shared with her grandfather a dream of becoming a sea captain. "Don't be silly" was his reply. But as 14-year-old Lettie comes of age, the old ways begin to change and being in charge becomes synonymous with growing up female. Although segregation separates Lettie from Bina, a servant and respected member of the family who's sent to a camp for black South Africans, Bina's advice lives on: "Deeds live." Lettie's mother adheres to Bina's counsel initially, teaching her children not to flinch even as a soldier holds his rifle against the neck of her youngest son. While hate consumes Lettie's mother, whose brother-in-law cooperated with the enemy to save his own life, Lettie decides that her deed will be forgiveness. A convincing plot twist unites the family. The novel was based on the story of Boling's grandfather during the war, and the author has dedicated the book to his family. VERDICT Centering on the maturation of a relatable protagonist, this well-written work that spotlights a military conflict rarely covered in fiction is an excellent addition to most collections.-Georgia Christgau, Middle College High School, Long Island City, NY

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2017
The Anglo-Boer war of 1899-1902, as witnessed by an adolescent Boer girl.If history is written by the victors, this may explain why so little is known about the travails of the Boers, Dutch colonists of South Africa, against the British. The novel begins when 13-year-old Lettie is turned out of her family's farmhouse along with her mother (known mostly as Moeder), younger sister, Cecelia, and brother, Willem. The farm is burned by British soldiers and the family's livestock is killed; such dispossessions are perpetrated again and again by the British, who aim to displace the Boer farmers to mine their territory for diamonds and gold. The Boer men have all left to fight. The women and children are herded into concentration camps and, in crowded, flimsy tents, are essentially left to starve and die of the diseases that flourish in close, unsanitary quarters. Moeder is incensed at Lettie's beloved aunt, Hannah, who, thanks to her husband Sarel's surrender, is housed in better conditions. The Boer mothers are leery of the camp hospital, resorting instead to folk remedies: these fail to save the life of Cecelia, who wastes away from malnutrition. Risking Moeder's censure, Lettie befriends a young British guard, Maples, who shows her kindness, including giving her a volume of Dickens and a prized potato, which is devoured by Lettie and her tent-mates. Volunteering at the hospital, Lettie works alongside Tante Hannah as a nurse's aide, as does Uncle Sarel, who takes on the grisliest tasks in atonement for his desertion. The novel sheds much-needed light on the deaths of thousands of Boer civilians in these camps. Boling (Guernica, 2008) occasionally lapses into sentimentality and overly reverent portrayals of the Boers as salt-of-the-earth Bible-thumpers, although in one instance Maples reminds Lettie that the Boers drove the Zulus out in order to become peaceable landowners. A valuable testament providing glimmers, however scant, of hope for humanity.

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April 15, 2017
Think of concentration camps, and the mind goes to WWII, but Boling dramatizes their presence in South Africa's Second Boer War (18991902). Operated by the British, the camps claimed the lives of 27,000 Boers, a heartrending 22,000 of them children. It is in one such camp that 14-year-old Lettie and her Boer family find themselves after the British destroy their farm. The camp conditions are deplorable and dehumanizing, each day presenting a new horror. But then Lettie meets a young British soldier named Tommy, and, though it's forbidden, they gradually become friends, but what good can come of that? Meanwhile, vicissitudes continue: Lettie's little sister dies while her younger brother withdraws into himself. Will things ever be the same, even when the war ends, as it must? Boling provides context for his setting-rich story by employing flashbacks that, though informative, tend to impede the momentum of the plot. But, nevertheless, his informative and illuminating story is heartfelt and deeply affecting in its dramatization of a historic episode too little known here.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

May 15, 2017

Journalist Boling (Guernica; The Undesirables) tells the harrowing story of 14-year-old Lettie, who is imprisoned with her Dutch Afrikaner family in a brutal British concentration camp during South Africa's Boer War. Boling's personal connection to this story of wartime suffering and perseverance (Boling is the grandson of a Boer War veteran) contributes to this powerful read about a period not often covered in historical fiction. (LJ 4/1/17)

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.