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You Will Be Safe Here

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You Will Be Safe Here

By: Damian Barr
Narrated by: Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo
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Summary

 Bloomsbury presents You Will Be Safe Here by Damian Barr, read by Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo.

An Observer, Guardian, Financial Times, Irish Times, Irish Independent, Big Issue and Strong Words Pick of the Year

‘This is a book that tilts the world’ STYLIST

'A gripping, heartbreaking tale of uncomfortable histories and the resilience of love' GRAHAM NORTON

'I want you to read this ... I enjoy a lot of books but few stay with me like this has' PHILIPPA PERRY

'Completely gripping and profoundly moving' MAGGIE O'FARRELL

'Very beautiful. Only a truly wise and kind person could write such a book' MAX PORTER

'Heart-wrenching ... redemptive and full of love' JOJO MOYES

A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK AT BEDTIME

The book that will change the way you see the world.

2010. Sixteen-year-old outsider Willem just wants to be left alone with his books and his dog. Worried he’s not turning out right, his ma and her boyfriend send him to New Dawn Safari Training Camp. Here they ‘make men out of boys’. Guaranteed.

1901. The height of the second Boer War in South Africa. Sarah van der Watt and her son are taken from their farm by force to Bloemfontein Concentration Camp where, the English promise: they will be safe.(P)2023 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction War & Military Africa
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Critic reviews

There is pain on these pages and poetry too. I left this book bruised yet somehow better for it (TAYARI JONES, WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE)
Lean, beautiful prose … It pulls you in, breaks your heart and then ultimately repairs it (JOJO MOYES)
A searing debut
A stunning dissection of human barbarism … It tells a story so powerful and upsetting that it’s a wonderful reminder of how fiction can illuminate the indignities visited upon those the world has mistreated and then forgotten (JOHN BOYNE)
This is a book that tilts the world, showing how the actions of the past can never be fully escaped by the present
Barr’s writing has a lightness of touch and warm humour which makes it easy to root for him ... His life has become a triumph
Packs a hefty emotional punch ... Extraordinary
A poignant debut, written with empathy ... Barr's first novel is distinguished by its compassion, its wisdom and its remarkable sense of poetry
The harsh poetry of the land anchors the text, its red earth stretching out beneath starlit stillness, unchanging from generation to generation … By its end, so many instinctive responses will have been upturned that the reader will be left with just two certainties: that the circularity of man’s cruelty to his fellow human beings is endless, and that only kindness is stronger
A devastating novel about the destruction of childhood which visits a little known part of South Africa’s recent shameful history ... Damian writes beautifully and wears his research lightly, in this most affecting of novels (KIRSTY WARK)
Completely gripping and profoundly moving – you care for every character. Each of the very different stories is deeply affecting and they’re woven together in such unexpected and powerful ways. Barr handles the most difficult material with the lightest touch (MAGGIE O'FARRELL)
Damian Barr’s fine first novel wears its research lightly and animates two very different eras with impressive skill. The main characters are all convincing and the overarching theme – that people can do monstrous things with the best of intentions – is explored with intelligence and passion
A gripping, heartbreaking tale of uncomfortable histories and the resilience of love (GRAHAM NORTON)
Barr has a keen eye for wincingly evocative detail ... Lyrical
Brutal, haunting, redemptive and with not an ounce of fat left on it. Beautiful (JOJO MOYES)
Eye-opening and meticulously researched (EMILY RHODES)
Both a damning indictment of one of the most ignoble periods in British history and a haunting portrait of modern South Africa
Funny, tender, and heartbreaking ... A gifted storyteller
Epic … Immersive, moving, horrifying and beautiful. You will LOVE it (MARIAN KEYES)
Skilfully interweaves interlocking stories from the Boer War and contemporary South Africa as it unflinchingly brings the horrors of hidden colonial history into the light of day and shows how hurt seeps down the generations (Anita Sethi)
All stars
Most relevant
My only caveat would be that book is two stories in one and sags dramatically at the beginning of the second part. It could have done with a robust edit at this stage to keep readers interested. Secondly there are point of view jumps mid scene where the author jumps into the head of another character. This is disconcerting and a bit surprising for an author as well known as Barr. It is probably the playwriter in the author coming out. An editor should have sorted that. But do read and persist through the sag in the middle. Warning. It is shocking and brutal. I do highly recommend but you need to be in a robust mood.

Superb, brutal. Must read

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I thought the performance was brilliant, I was completely absorbed. Well written story with interesting characters.

compelling, moving and informative

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There were moments in the narration where the skipping between British and South African accents made it hard for the narrator to keep up but her reading was natural and engaging. I changed how I felt about this book part way through - I have definitely struggled with empathy towards the characters with their racist views at the start, and this made me disengage from really engaging with their situation. And I was fully prepared to dismiss this book and finish and move on… then we reach the second part of the book when we are focussed more on the modern day South Africa - and I found myself intrigued by the real life inspiration for the book and took myself on a tangent of reading about the motivation for Barr to write it. I think this book will
stay with me for a long time. It’s horrific. But I feel like it has resonated with me in an area where I was perhaps not challenging myself. That said, it is also very disturbing to think about how these awful, misogynistic, homophobic, racist practices are being glorified in the world today.

Complicated, skillful and honestly horrific

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amazing audiobook the writing and Performance are incredible. historically interesting and well worth a listen

amazing audio book I really enjoyed it.

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It was fascinating. Part of history I was unaware of. Terrible that such things continue today

Excellent

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