"Kruger's Gold" -- New Military Historical Novel of the Anglo-Boer War Reveals Unpalatable Facts About Both Sides
Field Marshal Kitchener releases Lanyard from a court-martial charge of murdering an enemy prisoner, so he may lead a patrol to recover fifteen million dollars' worth of gold buried somewhere in the veld.
The hoard of bullion -- an historical reality, parts of which are still being searched for to this day -- was looted from Boer banks on orders of "Oom Paul" Kruger, fugitive President of the Transvaal Republic before he fled to exile in Europe.
To find it, Lanyard is given a mixed unit of hard-riding Canadian, Australian, Afrikaner, and British cavalrymen. Leading them on his quest, he must battle tough burgher commandos, roving bandits, hostile civilians, and a vengeful enemy spy among his own mutinous troopers. Meanwhile, he also strives to regain the love of his half-American Boer sweetheart, who is now allied with a ruthless Czarist agent.
The novel is based on many actual events, and meticulously researched in everyday details of the period, from tactics to weaponry, horse-handling, and medical conditions. It conveys the war even-handedly from both the Boer and British points of view, conveying peoples' social attitudes and prejudices as they actually were at dawn of the 20th century.
Though written as fast-paced fiction, KRUGER'S GOLD also conveys factual military realities and social conditions of the era -- including British "scorched earth" policy, civil war among the Afrikaner Boers, the oft-forgotten role of Anglo-South Africans, victimization of black Africans, and the political split between Canadians for and against the war.
This fast-paced novel unblinkingly reveals the horrors of British-run concentration camps and ruthless guerilla fighting, while over 27,000 white civilians and 30,000 black Africans died in the "last of the gentleman's wars".
KRUGER'S GOLD was declared Editor's Choice by the Canadian Book Review Annual in 2004, and described by Amazon as "simply a marvelous read."
Sidney Allinson is author of four previous published books, including THE BANTAMS: The Untold Story of World War One, and JEREMY KANE: A Canadian historical adventure novel of the 1837 Mackenzie Rebellion and its brutal aftermath in the penal colonies of Australia.
To read a free sample chapter, visit: www.xlibris.com/krugersgold.html
Allinson is a past Director of the Royal Canadian Military Institute, Toronto, and now lives in Victoria, British Columbia.
For further details or media interviews, Sidney Allinson may be reached via: sidneya@shaw.ca -- and by telephone at: 250-478-0457.
Author Information
Sidney Allinson
SALVO MEDIA CO.
