SOMETHING OF THEMSELVES, Kipling, Kingsley, Conan Doyle and the Anglo-Boer War

381pp., b/w & colour illus., hardback, London, 2020

Sarah LeFanu on the experiences of three British writers - Rudyard Kipling, Mary Kingsley and Arthur Conan Doyle - in South Africa during the Anglo-Boer War, and how it shaped their writings, their reputations, and their influence on colonial policy.

"A brilliantly insightful, very moving examination of three writers on the battlefield. LeFanu reveals each of her subjects to be engaged in his or her own private war, at the same time as they participated in the war that came to define the cruelty and confusion of the British Empire.’ Lara Feigel, author of Free Woman; The Bitter Taste of Victory; and The Love-charm of Bombs

"Imaginatively conceived, meticulously researched and subtly narrated, Something of Themselves is not only a biographical treasure trove but also offers fresh insights into that charged moment when the writing was at last firmly on the wall for old-style British imperialism." David Kynaston, author of City of London: the history

Sarah LeFanu's books include Rose Macaulay and S is for Samora: a lexical biography of Samora Machel and the Mozambican dream.