On the side of the Boer War Arch in St Stephen's Green is the name "Ladysmith", a key battle in that war and one in which many Irish died, fighting on the Crown side. But many Irish fought also on the rebel, or Boer, side in what was one of the major conflicts of the early 20th century. Thus, Maud Gonne's paint attack on the "traitors" Arch when it was unveiled. Readers of Ulysses will know how large the faraway war loomed in the consciousness of the time and today, around the country, many GAA clubs still bear the names De Wit and Kruger, after Boer heroes.
Foden has made the Irish characters central to his ambitious account and, in Bela and Jane, the daughters of publican Tom Kiernan, they also provide the romantic dynamic for visiting English soldiers.
This is a gripping and well realised novel in which a large cast of characters are lightly but engagingly sustained. Rationalisations about the war's savagery are provided by visiting war reporters but there are also the personal perspectives of native blacks, Dutch settlers and bungling British Generals.
Foden knows his Africa well, having spent most of his life there. His first novel, the acclaimed Last King of Scotland was a dark tale of Amin's Uganda.
In his new novel, real life people also appear: a blimpish but endearingly philosophical Winston Churchill and a visiting Indian agitator called Mahatma Gandhi. In its relentless depiction of shellfire and mortar rounds, and the doom-laden psychosis of a town under siege, one is reminded of nothing less than Sarajevo.
But modern echoes aside, this is very much a traditional account and in the vogue of recent historical fiction, with lots of boiled down research and "unheard of" voices. Our own Major John MacBride also appears and the Boer war offers a fascinating foretaste for the Irish independence struggle to come, not least in the example the canny Boers gave us in using guerrilla tactics against an uncommitted set piece army.
Eamon Delaney is a novelist