Ladysmith

In the dying days of the 19th century, the world's eyes turned to the small South African town of Ladysmith, whose inhabitants spent 118 days besieged by Boer forces while waiting for General Buller's army. Giles Foden tells his tale through a host of characters. There's the Irish hotelier Leo Kiernan and his daughters, Bella and Jane; the barber Antonio Torres, from Portuguese East Africa; the various British war correspondents, including a young Winston Churchill; the Indian stretcher bearers, among them Mohandas Gandhi; a Zulu named Muhle Maseku, his wife, Nandi, and their son, Wellington; and two young English soldiers, Tom and Perry Barnes, whose letters home--in which straightforward description approaches the surreal--were inspired by those of Foden's great-grandfather. Early on, Perry and his fellows capture one woman hiding in a farmhouse: