Lost Souls

Lost Souls traces the experience of the more than 6,000 New Zealand soldiers who fought in the Boer War. Based on the actual diaries and letters of New Zealand soldiers involved in the conflict, the novel sheds light on a war that has largely been forgotten. “The experiences of young New Zealanders in South Africa have been buried under the carnage of later wars, yet the Anglo-Boer War set the pattern for so much of what happened in the 20th century. All the elements of future wars are here – concentration camps, guerrilla war and the carnage caused by modern weaponry.” What has also been forgotten, perhaps deliberately, is the nature of our involvement in the war, Jenny says. ”Over 6,000 New Zealand soldiers left New Zealand for South Africa to fight in the war from 1899 to 1902, but many arrived too late to fight in the major battles. Instead they were used in the ‘dirty war’, rounding up Boer women and children for the Concentration Camps, slaughtering animals and burning crops.” The novel explores the false excitement and goals of patriotism, and traces the experiences of Luke Macpherson, an old man haunted by memories of his time spent fighting in South Africa. As he watches his favourite nephew prepare to volunteer in World War II he wonders, if he had spoken about the reality of his war, whether younger men might not be again preparing to die for ‘King and country’. Jenny says the realities of the Anglo-Boer war were vividly brought to life for her by reading the true accounts of soldiers involved in the conflict. ”This was the first major war for New Zealanders where all of the soldiers were educated and able to write about their experiences. Many of them wrote exceedingly well, describing the country and the conditions under which they served in graphic detail, and much of their correspondence was not affected by censorship, which makes these diaries a unique record.”