My formative years were spent on the plains of the Great Karoo. It is here where I spent invaluable time learning about how people and animals survive and thrive in an arid and unforgiving habitat. The Karoo is a beautiful place, with scenery, smells, and habitat unlike any other I have experienced in my travels to other countries across the globe. It is no wonder that the natives of this area have forged their own distinct characters, akin to their environment that, despite its simplicity, can also be extremely complex.It is in this place that I acquired my interest in people and history, realising that in order to understand people, one must develop an appreciation for where they came from and the events that shaped their psyche. This is how my interest in genealogy started. I love to read history and historically accurate fiction. More than anything, I love to recount these events and the characters that shaped them. This is my way of helping people understand and appreciate people, and the environments in which they live.

In his latest novel, My Father's Child, due for release later this year, Theron Crawford uses the backdrop of both Boer Wars (1881 and 1899) and the period between the wars to sketch the story of John Christian McCarthy as he navigates the challenges of the period in search of meaning for his life and security for his family. The happenings of the time are painstakingly researched to provide readers with a historically accurate account ofevents as they unfold, and a thoroughy credible introduction to the unforgettable characters of the time.

The backdrop to this story is the Anglo-Boer War of 1899 to 1902 that was fought between the British Empire and the republicans of the Transvaal and Free State. In this war lies the start of the divide between its black and white citizens, its English-speaking and Afrikander populations, and the Afrikaners themselves. This war had far-reaching consequences for everyone who participated in the conflict, whether directly or indirectly. In many respects, it is the source of the many challenges confronting the young South African nation today.

Yet, despite the many divides of the time, people managed to forge life-long relationships across the seemingly impermeable barriers to find support, love, and hope. These small successes fly in the face of popular wisdom about the true nature of these barriers, relegating them to figments of our imagination. I trust that this story will make you think about your man-made boundaries.

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Twelve short stories about life in the Great Karoo in the mid 1960's. I recount stories set in the Graaff-Reinet district of the Karoo. Meet the quircky characters and leran more about how they tackled the challenges thrown at them in this fontier distict.

This is a combination of a biography of a man whose life was the battle with Alzheimer's Disease, inherited from his great-grandmother and shared with his cousins. It traces his family roots in an attempt to better understand his demeanor in dealing with his life's challenges.

This is a story of four young men who are conscripted to fight in the Namibian Border War. Each has their own reasons for wanting to, or not wanting to, participate in the action. Read how they manage thier convictions when thrown into the war zone at a very young age.