The Story:

Trapped by tragic circumstances in a dusty Namaqualand mining town during the Anglo-Boer War, Emma Richardson must degrade herself in order to survive. Then the town is besieged by Boer fighters, led by their tortured commandant Manie Smit, and Emma is faced with a fateful choice. With her vision of the ephemeral desert flowers in her mind, she sets out alone on foot by night on a desperate mission to create a new future for herself.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

When Clive Algar retired from his busy career as a mining industry executive in London, and returned to his native South Africa, he and his wife went to live on their secluded farm in the Western Cape where he wrote Journeys to the End of the World, which was published in 2007. His second novel, Flowers in the Sand, appeared four years later in 2011.

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More Reviews:

“Algar artfully blends fictional and historical figures... Flowers in the Sand is engrossing and moves along at a brisk pace ...”
Laura Lloyd, Historical Novels Review Online

“The Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) remains a popular source for fiction. And, as with all historical novels, the challenge is to write about people’s destinies without yielding to the temptation to force all that hard-won research material into the text or to write a military report. Clive Algar undoubtedly understands this art.

“Although all his historical figures become people of flesh and blood – especially Jan Smuts – his book is mainly the story of Emma Richardson ... who, during the siege of O’okiep, must struggle with moral dilemmas about which she has never even had to think before, let alone handle successfully.

“... Emma is not destined to bloom or wither in this sandveld forever. But if I said where her path leads I would be giving away a thrilling story.”
Jeanette Ferreira, Beeld

“The siege of O’okiep, a mining town in Namaqualand, the people living there under the threat of a Boer conquest, a dangerous mission to seek relief, a woman’s courage and a final outcome that is honourable, make this a great adventure story.”
Dries Brunt, The Citizen

The Story:

Psychology student Vicky Watts goes to Plettenberg Bay hoping to discover what happened to her enigmatic great-grandfather, Dan Butler, who returned from the trenches of the Western Front in 1918 suffering from shell-shock.

Like the archaeologists working in the Letterbox Cave, the novel gradually brushes through layers of the past, revealing not only Dan’s harrowing story of war, guilt and love but reaching back to the foundations of modern South African society when a young Khoi flees the brutality of his trekboer master.

The mysterious cave, near Plettenberg Bay, connects the lives of the major characters and it is near this archaeological site that Vicky experiences her own life-altering crisis.

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More Reviews:

“Algar’s … ability to thrust us on to Dan Butler’s battlefield makes this a riveting read. But this is not only a soldier’s war story – it is a tapestry of three South African tales from three different centuries. The sinking of the Mendi and the Battle of Delville Wood make this book serious and austere. But the delicate issues of love, courage, regret and shame make it an honest, authentic novel. Letterbox Cave becomes the pivot for all three storylines as we travel between centuries and characters, sharing their tragedies and triumphs, as they follow their private quests for truth.”
Phil Murray, The Cape Times

“This charming novel interweaves three stories over two centuries with the point of intersection a cave in the dunes near the mouth of the Keurbooms River. Algar examines the effects of violence on individuals, both victims and perpetrators … [his] purpose is to look at issues of forgiveness and atonement … a thoughtful novel that brings together strands of our social matrix and carries it in a good story.”
Jane Rosenthal, Mail & Guardian

“Clive Algar’s Journeys to the End of the World drives home the senseless brutality of war and the psychological scars left on the soldiers involved. The book is extremely well researched and is therefore a must read for history buffs, as Algar delves into rich fragments of South Africa’s past with mindful candour, reminding us from whence we have come.”
Lisa Greyling, Garden Route Living

“Algar expertly brings to life the daily grime, extreme stress and fear that characterised the lives of soldiers in the first world war. As Dan grows into a man, moulded by the worst of circumstances, Algar illuminates his changing psyche as he transforms from an eager young man to a traumatised, disillusioned and bone weary survivor.”
Natasha Uys, The Namibian Weekender

“Journeys to the End of the World is a notable debut from an exciting new writer.”
Lesley Paton, Knysna-Plett Herald

“Author Clive Algar writes well, particularly in his descriptions of life in South Africa in the early part of the last century and later in the vivid details of the horrors of trench warfare. His characters and plot are hatched with conviction and, although technically a historical novel, the book’s themes and preoccupations reach beyond the period piece.”
Anthony Stidolph, The Witness

“There is plenty to recommend this book. It is ambitious and well researched, containing a wealth of fascinating material. At first the different journeys making up the novel seem too far removed from one another to be mutually illuminating, but as the three narratives gradually converge, to meet in the cave above the sea, the themes crystallize and cohere … There is much here of real value.”
Michiel Heyns, novelist and award-winning literary critic