A sweeping, intense novel set during the Boer War, told through the eyes of a young Boer farm girl, Corlie, whose life is vanishing around her.
Corlie Roux's farm life in South Africa is not easy: the Transvaal is beautiful, but it is also a harsh place where the heat can be so intense that even raindrops sizzle. When her beloved father dies, she is left with a mother who is as devoted to her sons as she is cruel to her daughter. Despite this, Corlie finds comfort in her friend Sipho, and in Africa itself and in the stories she creates for her brothers. But Corlie's world is about to vanish: the British are invading and driving Boer families like hers from their farms. Some escape into the bush to fight the enemy. The unlucky ones are rounded up and sent to internment camps.
Will Corlie's strength and devotion to her country sustain her through the suffering and misery she finds in the camp at Kroonstad? That may depend on a soldier from faraway Canada and on inner resources Corlie never dreamt she had...
