Journeys to the End of the World

Psychology student Vicky Watts goes to Plettenberg Bay hoping to discover what happened to her enigmatic great-grandfather, Dan Butler, who returned from the trenches of the Western Front in 1918 suffering from shell-shock. Like the archaeologists working in the Letterbox Cave, the novel gradually brushes through layers of the past, revealing not only Dan's harrowing story of war, guilt and love but reaching back to the foundations of modern South African society when a young Khoi flees the brutality of his trekboer master. The mysterious cave, near Plettenberg Bay, connects the lives of the major characters and it is near this archaeological site that Vicky experiences her own life-altering crisis.

~

Journeys to the End of the World (2007) is the debut novel by Clive Algar and is reviewed in the May 2009 issue of Historical Novels Review Online. The review, by Amanda Yesilbas, says that the novel deftly ties the stories of three compelling characters into a haunting work that traces the patterns of violence, survival, and the often guilty-feeling process of healing.

Yesilbas continues: "The characters, especially Daniel Butler, are drawn with a delicate and subtle hand that makes their changes in personality and circumstances seem very natural and believable. The book offers a fascinating look at South Africa and its activities during WW1 that many American readers might be unaware of, and the tale of Daniel emphasizes the horror of war and its after effects in a visceral way. This lovely book is engrossing and will leave the reader thinking."