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by Dave Boling
From a forgotten moment in history comes an inspiring novel about finding strength and courage in the most unimaginable places.
In turn-of-the-century South Africa, fourteen-year-old Lettie, her younger brother, and her mother are Dutch Afrikaner settlers who have been taken from their farm by British soldiers and are being held in a concentration camp. It is early in the Boer War, and Lettie's father, grandfather, and brother are off fighting the British as thousands of Afrikaner women and children are detained. The camps are cramped and disease ridden; the threat of illness and starvation are ever present. Determined to dictate their own fate, Lettie and her family give each other strength and hope as they fight to survive amid increasingly dire conditions.
Brave and defiant, Lettie finds comfort in memories of stargazing with her grandfather, in her plan to be a writer, and in surprising new friendships that will both nourish and challenge her. A beautiful testament to love, family, and sheer force of will, The Lost History of Stars was inspired by Dave Boling's grandfather's own experience as a soldier during the Boer War. Lettie is a figure of abiding grace, and her story is richly drawn and impossible to forget.
"[Boling's] informative and illuminating story is heartfelt and deeply affecting in its dramatization of a historic episode too little known here." - Booklist
"This beautifully narrated work will appeal to fans of both historical and general fiction." - Library Journal
"A valuable testament providing glimmers, however scant, of hope for humanity." - Kirkus
"In his new novel, Boling tries to do for the Boer War what he did for the Spanish Civil War in his previous novel, Guernica, but with uneven dramatic results." - Publishers Weekly
"Prepare to be immersed in the story ... this story will remain with you long after you have finished the book." - Historical Novels Review
"The Lost History of Stars is a heart-wrenching yet ultimately uplifting story of an extraordinary young woman and her family, who are forced to endure unimaginable hardship at the hands of a brutal war. Dave Boling's brilliant novel is a meditation on the resiliency of the soul and the spirit, and will long be remembered." - Garth Stein, author of A Sudden Light and The Art of Racing in the Rain
"Dave Boling has a rare gift for finding humanity in historical fiction. His new novel, The Lost History of Stars, is another gripping tale about living in war's barbaric shadow, and how moments of decency and heroism and glimpses of the natural world sustain us." - Jess Walter, author of Beautiful Ruins
This information about The Lost History of Stars was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Dave Boling, a sports writer based in Seattle, is the author of one previous novel, the critically acclaimed Guernica.
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