Music of the Guns – Henry John May Based on two journals of the Boer War

This most unusual book about the Anglo-Boer War is based on two remarkable interlocking journals; one by Freda Schlosberg, a farmer’s fourteen-year-old daughter, and the other by James Alexander Kay, an English doctor.

Freda, a convent schoolgirl when the war began, vividly portrays the comings and goings of the commandos near the Bushveld east and north-east of Pretoria. She tells of the looting and burning of farmhouses, and her descriptions of the Uitlander Korps, the Irish Brigade and the Italian dynamiters have a dramatic freshness.

Dr. Kay, at exactly the same time, recorded his experiences during the Siege of Ladysmith and during the occupation of Pretoria by Lord Roberts, to whose staff he was accredited as a war correspondent.

Henry John May has skilfully fitted the two journals together in alternate chapters—and a human link between them is provided by Freda’s turning to Dr. Kay for news of a young British subaltern for whom she had a special liking. Whether it is read as an exciting narrative of adventure or as a fascinating contribution to history, MUSIC OF THE GUNS is a must for every collector of Africana.