Product details
- ISBN 9781803781976
- Dimensions: 129 x 198mm
- Publication Date: 28 May 2024
- Publisher: Cranthorpe Millner Publishers
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
- Language: English
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It is 1878, and beneath the heat of the South African sun, a brutal war is brewing. Yet for the soldiers based at the dreary maritime barracks of Chatham, the prospect of journeying to this exotic land is an opportunity they cannot resist.
Albert Bond, a young lieutenant and academy graduate, is plagued by his family's ruin as he desperately attempts to cling to the status of his wealthy upbringing. Yet he is soon forced to reassess his aspirations, his morals, and his feelings concerning class and rank as he realises his growing affection for his handsome batman Jack Coleman. Jack grew up as the lowest of the low, but his social disadvantages fail to suppress his optimism and willingness to take risks, attributes that Bond cannot help but admire.
As the two men come to rely on one another for comfort and companionship amidst the animosity and indecision of war, their relationship begins to shift. But in a time of deep-rooted institutional and societal prejudice, will their intimacy blossom into something tangible?
A heart wrenching LGBTQ+ tale of the brutalities of love and war, the epic Babanango trilogy chronicles a fight for survival against the backdrop of the emotive Anglo-Zulu War of 1879.
DJG Palmer was born in Kent to a pre-war father, who believed boys should explore castles and read books about knights and pirates, rather than play computer games or watch videos, so he grew up playing around ruins and reading dog-eared Ladybird history books. At the age of eight, he opened his grandfather’s chest in the attic to discover the baton, pips, and medals of a WW2 army officer, and came to understand the grim realities that lay behind the martial emblems bestowed upon those who survive their service.
It was during his time in the army, in his early years of manhood, that DJG Palmer embarked upon writing Babanango, resulting in fellowships of the Anglo-Zulu War Historical and Royal Geographical Societies, despite a lack of formal further education. He then set aside the military, and military fiction, for a career in policing, and later found love with a wonderful man, the love and bedrock of his life.
The death of a friend, mentor, and former army officer moved him to dust off the Babanango manuscript and revisit its contents, reawakening the untold story of the men who must have lived, loved, and died together in secret, serving in the armed forces. This story is for those men, whoever they were, and the friends and allies who had their backs.