In this biography of a dashing， brash young Churchill， Celia Sandys reconstructs her celebrated grandfather s adventures as a correspondent and combatant during nine months of the Anglo-Boer War at the end of the last century—events that took him from the bivouacs and battle sites of Transvaal to his incarceration as a prisoner of war in Pretoria and ultimately to a bold escape across the border into Mozambique. Using both British and South African sources of testimony， which alternately reveal the dauntless Winston as a courageous ally or foolhardy foe， Sandys recounts the exploits of a Churchill whom history has largely forgotten. With narrative vigor， historical authority， and singular charm， she offers both a fully drawn portrait of the ready adventurer who would become England s legendary prime minister and an illuminating chronicle of the turbulent events one hundred years ago that defined South Africa for modern times.