Review by Hester3 -- Forgiven by Geoff Lawson

[Hester3]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Forgiven" by Geoff Lawson.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Richard Wilson is separated from his column during a battle in the second Boer war in South Africa. While on his way to re-join his column, he encounters a priest and get the feeling that something is not right. This sets into motion a chain of events that will change the course of Richard’s deployment.

In FORGIVEN by Geoff Lawson Richard tells the story of his experiences while on deployment in South Africa during 1989 and 1990. He also jumps back to the year before his deployment in New Zealand.

Richard grew up on a farm near Patea in New Zealand, while visiting Whanganui with his mother, he meets Rachel Purdue, the only daughter of a wealthy businessman. It will be eight years before he returns to Whanganui and see Rachel again.

Richard and Rachel fall in love, but her parents are skeptical about the match because of their difference in station. During this time Richard volunteers to join the war effort in South Africa, he also sees it as an opportunity to convince Rachel’s parents to allow them to marry as soon as he comes back to New Zeeland.

His leadership, ingenuity, and courage brings him to the attention of his superiors. His time in South Africa is filled with adventure, danger, and battles, but he is also confronted with his own mortality and discovers what is really important in life.

The parts of the book that plays of in South Africa focus more on the people involved and how they react to the war, rather than the battles themselves. The tension is also broken with almost every second chapter that jumps back to his time before the war. This is a book about the effects of war on the people involved seen from the viewpoint of a young man.

Richard is filled with youthful optimism and even when faced with injuries and death, he still retains some semblance of hope. Because the book jumps between the war in South Africa and Richard’s life the year before the war, the book is not such a heavy read.

Being an Afrikaans speaking South African myself, I was aware of the possibility that I might be upset or offended by the author’s description of the Boers. But I have to give credit to the author, although Richard fights for the British army and his loyalty is never in question he views and describes the Boers as people caught in the same war that he is fighting. Even when he is a captive of the Boers he still remains objective and even in a way befriend some of them.

It is always difficult with a book like this to choose a favorite part, but I think the part that had the biggest impact on me would be during Richard’s captivity. He was approached by an Afrikaans lady how told him the following: “The loss of our son is a tragedy for our family; he was our last child and the only son. I hated you English for the grief you have brought us. Then I read the newspaper; I read of the piles of English dead at Magersfontein and Spion Kop and I realise that the mothers of England are crying too. I cannot hate you now.”

I don’t have a least favorite part but with all of the chapters the author gives the location of the characters and most of the time he gives the month and year as well. With the ones that he did not give the date, it caused some confusion as the events often skipped a period of time.

I gladly rate this book 4 out of 4. It is a well written, researched and edited book that will appeal to readers of historic and war novels, there is also some romance. Although there are descriptions of battles and war none of the descriptions are too graphic. Still, people who are sensitive to violence and some borderline profanity might want to avoid this one.

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Forgiven
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