At the Edge of the Desert Book Review

Title: At the Edge of The Desert

Author: Basil Lawrence

ISBN: 9781485904090

Publisher: Penguin Random House South Africa

Pages: 188

Source: Review Copy from Penguin Random House South Africa

In the Namibian harbour town of Lüderitz, a liminal space where desert meets ocean, a terrible history is made intimate and personal when filmmaker Henry van Wyk must confront a childhood tragedy that has moulded his life.

Having returned to his birthplace in an attempt to get his career back on track, Henry struggles to complete a documentary he is working on. He whiles away his mornings swimming in a nearby tidal pool on Shark Island and finds himself increasingly drawn to the small town and its romantic possibilities.

But the tranquil land hides a bloody history: Shark Island was once the site of a concentration camp, and a law firm is suing the German government for their role in the genocide of Namibia’s indigenous people.

When Henry begins to interview the survivors’ descendants, their testimonies compel him to search the desert for a mass grave.

Official Summary

“a meditation on loss, isolation and love, which asks us to consider the implications of telling someone else’s story.”

Pre-COVID, I had the opportunity to work with a lot of German travellers visiting Namibia, this resulted in me receiving a lot of feedback on the country and loads of scenic photos. When I came across At the Edge of the Desert, I was excited to read the book and experience the author’s take on Namibia.

Basil Lawrence has an easy writing style, with beautiful descriptions of the scenery. His dialogue, however, shifts between English, Afrikaans, and the odd bits of German – I was lost on all the German phrases included and I am sure international readers will find it difficult to understand the Afrikaans lingo used. These Afrikaans bits are often not explained and if you are not familiar with these Afrikaans phrases it could make it difficult to understand.

The storyline was good, I enjoyed the wacky characters and the history that was included in the story. I am inspired to read more about the Namibian history. Unfortunately, the excessive sexual scenes and explicit sexual descriptions spoilt this book for me a little bit. I did not see the need for including these and had the author rather toned those down a bit then At the Edge of the Desert would have been a much more enjoyable read.

There is a large cast in the story and most of them are very entertaining. Having to pick a favourite I would lean towards Amanda – I enjoyed how difficult and stuck up she was. Especially after finding out that she is not really who she pretends to be.

This book will not make it onto my LOVED list, yet at the same time, I cannot say that I hated it. Part of the story was really good and made for entertaining reading, yet some parts really didn’t work for me.

This book will appeal to open-minded readers who enjoy African/historical fiction and who do not mind explicit sexual scenes.

About the Author

Basil Lawrence is the author of Henry First and At the Edge of the Desert. He won the Amstel Playwright of the Year Award for Modern Eating Habits. After reading English at the University of the Witwatersrand, he obtained a masters in creative writing from Birkbeck, University of London. He lives in London.

Thank you, Penguin Random House for the eBook review copy of this title. Without the support of local publishers finding new titles to review will be a lot harder. Also thank you for visiting my blog and reading my review. Until next time…..Happy Reading!