Review by DottyC -- Forgiven by Geoff Lawson

[DottyC]

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

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4 out of 4 stars

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Forgiven, by Geoffrey M. Lawson is a story of one man’s war.

Richard, our protagonist, met Rachel in a chance encounter when she beat him with an umbrella as a child. Later Rachel became his love interest. Like so many tales, our couple's love fell outside the boundaries of Victorian social etiquette, when war broke out in South Africa at the end of the 19th century, Richard signed up hoping to prove his worth and speed up the couple’s engagement on his return.

After joining the New Zealand Mounted Rifles, Richard is situated in South Africa during the Boer War where he is recruited into the intelligence agency to capture a fugitive, a saboteur that he had witnessed by chance. He is later captured by the Boers. Meanwhile, at home, Rachel has her fair share of alarming encounters as she is also kidnapped and ransomed by loan sharks.

Forgiven is beautifully descriptive which allows the imagination to fully experience the scenery of both New Zealand and many parts of South Africa through the eyes of our protagonist. Lawson does not shy away from the horrors of war but rather than bare the main focus of his tale, they provide the necessary backdrop for Richards 7-month tale of survival and journey into manhood, realising the value of who he has left behind and the kind of life he wants to lead.

Factually accurate in many regards, this added depth to the story and allowed me to enjoy the story whilst recognising places that I have been to. I was compelled to keep reading, keen to find out what happens to these two lovers and whether they would see each other again. It was easy to read, and I enjoyed it, I couldn’t put it down.

What I liked the most about this book is that despite being a war story it wasn’t a heavy read. I found I was swept away by the story because Lawson managed to create characters you rooted for against the oppressive and sometimes vicious Victorian societal expectations. I was invested in their story.

There wasn’t anything I disliked about Forgiven. I did find some of the descriptive passages about guns a little dry but that was more due to my complete lack of interest or knowledge in them. These were only occasional and weren’t long enough to put me off however and I am sure that they would be entertaining for someone who finds historical weaponry interesting.

I would rate this book a 4 out of 4. It was exciting, intriguing and captivating. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in a romantic, historical fiction, in particular, those who enjoy a story about the Boer Wars.

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Forgiven
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[BuzzingQuill]

Great review! I must agree with you about the dryness of having too much description of guns (especially if the author has used a lot of jargon). I also find the plot of the book quite interesting, as a South African myself I heard about the Anglo-boer war so many times, but not in a context like this so that’s particularly intriguing to me