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Tom Edwards was born in Hampshire, England, where he spent his early years. After completing his education he served for six years in the Fleet Air Arm branch of the Royal Navy. Leaving the service he made his living for several years as an artist before moving to Southern Africa, where he worked as an engineer on various mines in South Africa, Zambia and Namibia, .
During the Rhodesian conflict he joined the reserve branch of the security forces where he served on border patrol and in the Marine Division. It was there that he acquired much of the material for his first book ‘If I should die’. The war being lost, depending on which side you were on, he and a friend bought a thirty-foot boat in England and sailed around the world for four years; a trip bedevilled by pirates and hurricanes. They were finally shipwrecked off the coast of New Zealand and had to work there for a year to repair the boat.
They carried on to Australia where Tom’s partner left him to return home. Tom continued on his own to South Africa and eventually back to Australia where he became an Australian citizen. His latest adventure was to walk from John O’Groats, in the north of Scotland to Land’s End in the south of England, a distance of 1440km, which took him forty-six days to complete. Tom has now retired to Lake Macquarie where he enjoys writing, painting and walking.
Reviewed by Paul Johnson for Readers' Favorite
If I Should Die is the story of war torn Africa when nations were determined to throw off the last vestiges of colonial rule for self-determination. It is a story of violence set against the breathtaking beauty of the fictitious nation of Nyanga. Students of history will know the real country and remember the terrible misery imposed on its population when savagery and extreme viciousness was so often inflicted upon scores of peaceful farmers and farm workers.
This is not a story just about blacks against whites, since both were killed with equal cruelty. It is more of resistance to change on one side, and the righting of past wrongs on the other. This is a story of a war men fight, knowing in the end they cannot win, but they fight anyway, because it's their job.
As the fight unfolds, it becomes personal for two combatants, the best each side has to offer, and even more so when Sergeant Wilson is severely wounded and taken away for interrogation. Desperate efforts to rescue the Sergeant are made, as a band of comrades attempt from one side, and his fiancé tries another way. But, will they be successful?
Set in a time of terrible strife, the author has put together a very thorough, but intense look at Africa and its struggles. The characterization is first rate as both sides are shown as history reports them to have been. The plot is set as a work of fiction, but the author has indicated it is partially based on a true story. I have no reason to doubt this. Some readers may find the graphic violence and excessive brutality to be excessive; however, as history tells, that was the way it really happened. Very nicely done.
