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Hallowed Ground: the mystery of the African Fairy Circles

Paul Twivy

3.95 · Rating details · 20 ratings · 14 reviews

This magical story is inspired by the most haunting and least explored country in the world - Namibia - with its foggy skeleton coasts; buried goldmines, shocking secrets and awe-inspiring sand dunes.
Spread across the face of its deserts are hundreds of miles of ‘fairy circles’ : vast enough to be seen from space. They grow and die with the same lifespan as humans, yet no ...more

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Kindle Edition, 250 pages

Published September 25th 2019 by The Conrad Press

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Nov 07, 2020 San rated it really liked it

Namibia is a country that I’m familiar with only from school. So I was really curious what I will find out about it. And while reading Hallowed Ground I had no problem with imagine how Namibia looks like. Paul Twivy managed to describe scenery in spectacular way which was based on his own experiences.

The main characters of this book are four teenagers: Joe, Hannah, Freddie and Selima. Each one of them is from different part of the world but they managed to bulit a strong friendship while working ...more

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Oct 26, 2019 Lis Carey rated it really liked it

Shelves: arcs, fiction, fables, f-sf

Joe Kaplan, Freddie Wilde, and Hannah Chiang--one American and two British teenagers--arrive in Namibia due to their parents' jobs. Ben Kaplan is an anthropologist; Barbara Kaplan has been assigned by the hotel chain she works for to develop a new site; Ralph Wilde is the new British High Commissioner to Namibia; Helen Wilde is a doctor who will be working with AIDS patients; Li Chiang is a mining engineer employed by the Chinese government to develop a uranium mine in Namibia; Sarah Chiang is a Joe Kaplan, Freddie Wilde, and Hannah Chiang--one American and two British teenagers--arrive in Namibia due to their parents' jobs. Ben Kaplan is an anthropologist; Barbara Kaplan has been assigned by the hotel chain she works for to develop a new site; Ralph Wilde is the new British High Commissioner to Namibia; Helen Wilde is a doctor who will be working with AIDS patients; Li Chiang is a mining engineer employed by the Chinese government to develop a uranium mine in Namibia; Sarah Chiang is a special needs teacher who will be working at a local school.

Joe, Freddie, and Hannah are all enrolled at the same boarding school, and quickly become friends. On a school trip, they meet Selima van Zyl, daughter of Ilana van Zyl, a Namibian tour guide, and Darius van Zyl, son of an Afrikaner farmer who is "an entrepreneur" currently giving tours of the magnificent Namibian sand dunes. The four teens quickly become best friends, and adopting the title of Four Teenagers of the Apocalypse, they get interested in the Namibian "fairy circles," strange circles rimmed by drylands grass and completely barren within. Selima can tell them some of the stories of the various Namibian tribes about these circles, but Joe in particular wants to know what the truth is.

Then a body is discovered in the test dig being done at the potential hotel site Barbara Kaplan is working on, and it seems it may be the body of a British soldier and explorer from the 1830s. This is followed by the discovery of a mass grave in the test dig for the mine Li Chiang is working on--and it appears to be from the German genocide of the Herero and Nama peoples between 1904 and 1907.

Suddenly a collection of very different people who would have thought they had little in common, are brought together to solve the superficially unrelated mysteries of the fairy circles and the dead soldier, and the crisis of the disturbed mass grave.

The adults and the teenagers are all interesting, complicated individuals, with solid, decent characters, but very different viewpoints. As anyone with a family will know, even family members can see things very differently. They have find a way through competing viewpoints, outside forces including what Brexit is doing to British needs, the demands of Barbara Kaplan's and Li Chiang's employers, Ilana's devotion to protecting the heritage of her country, the wholly understandable rage of Namibians when the bodies of the genocide victims are moved by one of Li Chiang's ambitious underlings. Meanwhile, the teenagers' focus on the fairy circles may not be as irrelevant as it seems.

This is a mix of great characters, serious problems, and a culture and environment that's unfamiliar and fascinating.

Recommended.

I received a free electronic galley of this book from the publisher, and am reviewing it voluntarily. ...more

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Oct 21, 2019 Isobel Blackthorn rated it liked it

Hallowed Ground is a rendering of the Namibian myth of fairy circles into a mystery involving a group of teenagers and their families. The author is clearly passionate about his subject, something that shines through the pages. The writing is good, the pacing considered. I admit I found the character introductions at the beginning of the novel rather tedious and would have preferred a different approach.

Hallowed Ground is an ambitious novel, blending as it does ancient myths and present day issu ...more

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Oct 28, 2019 Noriko rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi, ya

Grand, expansive, multi-layered story of four teenagers unraveling the mystery of Fairy Circles in Namibia, Africa. I initially thought it would revolve around African indigenous myths and folklore and I was proved to have been right to some extent, but there was actually much more to the story, and I was pleasantly surprised.

The story begins with encounters of the four teenagers, Joe, Freddie, Hannah who are relocated to Namibia due to their parents’ job and a local girl, Selima. The opening i Grand, expansive, multi-layered story of four teenagers unraveling the mystery of Fairy Circles in Namibia, Africa. I initially thought it would revolve around African indigenous myths and folklore and I was proved to have been right to some extent, but there was actually much more to the story, and I was pleasantly surprised.

The story begins with encounters of the four teenagers, Joe, Freddie, Hannah who are relocated to Namibia due to their parents’ job and a local girl, Selima. The opening is epic and atmospheric, drummed up my anticipation and made me convinced their paths would surely cross in some way as the chapter title "convergence" suggests.
As expected, the three of them turn out to go to the same boarding school and immediately forge a friendship. Selima then thrown into the mix and they gradually get drawn and fascinated by the mysterious Fairy Circles and decide to discover the mysteries surrounding them.

I enjoyed this book much better than I initially anticipated. The writing is consistently strong and engaging, and the story moves forward at a steady pace. I particularly enjoyed and appreciated how the story is multi-layered and expansive. As I said earlier, I gathered this book would take an mythical approach and that’d be the end of it, but then the story extends its horizon intertwining a mystery surrounding a perished British explorer who also attempted to unearth the mystery of the Fairy Circles.
The opposition and protests from the locals against their expedition arguing that they are desecrating their sacred land amps up the tension and intrigue, the expansion and the transition of the story kept my attention the entire time. In particular, the unprecedented inclement weather which are thrown in as if to suggest the wrath of nature and Namibian ancestors emphasized the mythical aspect, it is one of the things I liked the best in this book.

Then, as we get closer to the end, the plot undergoes quite a transformation; it starts to get a tinge of science fiction element and even goes further than that.
Thanks to the gradual and steady transition, it didn’t come across far-fetched or out of the world. The story consistently came across believable and captivating, it literally transported me to the land of Namibia, making me feel as though I were tagging along after them on their epic expedition.
The introduction of African culture, landscape and folklore are mystical and enthralling, added abundance of flavor and atmosphere to the story.

The rapid development in the latter part of the book momentarily threw me for a loop because I wasn’t expecting it, but the wrap up was nicely done by introducing a grave issue as an alarming bell that insinuates a probable path our planet Earth could end up on.
It is really thought-provoking and somehow deplorable to see how unwilling we can be to change our ways for greater good, sticking to what is clear and plain to see and what can be explained by science, numbers, figures, et cetera. In other words, they remain in denial refusing to see what’s to come even after witnessing concrete evidence of what they used to believe impossible. The ending clearly shows the dire promise of their future and I closed the book with heavy heart.

To put it in a nutshell, this book, Hallowed Ground far exceeded my initial expectations and swept me up in the story without allowing me to stop until I finished the book.
This is a magical, mysterious and epic journey to the secrets hidden underneath the Fairy Circles and the story of strong friendships and bonds between four (five, including Clara) children and their families.

4 stars go to the book and I thank Rachel’s Random Resources, the author, and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange my honest review. ...more

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Oct 29, 2019 Samantha rated it liked it

Shelves: 2019-popsugar-rc

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Trigger Warning: this book contains genocide and suicide.

This is where I normally will spill out my version of what happened in the book, however for this one I'm going to stick with the Synopsis because I think it would be most beneficial for this review.

This magical story is inspired by the most haunting and least explored country in the world - Namibia - with it ...more

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Oct 24, 2019 Lel Budge rated it really liked it

This is a YA novel, set in Namibia.

The tale centres around the Namibian myth of the fairy circles. A clever mix of old myth and present day life and issues. It tells some of the history of Namibia, it’s culture, landscape and doesn’t shy from the brutal side either.

The protagonists are teenagers who want to solve the mystery of the fairy circles and with the help of a local bushman and some Victorian art ifs ts they mystery begins. Can they solve the mystery? What will the consequences be for th ...more

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Aug 23, 2020 Graham rated it really liked it

Hallowed Ground: The Mystery of the African Fairy Circles

This magical story is inspired by the most haunting and least explored country in the world - Namibia - with its foggy Skeleton Coast, buried goldmines, shocking secrets and awe-inspiring sand dunes.

Spread across the face of its deserts are hundreds of miles of ‘fairy circles’ : vast enough to be seen from space. They grow and die with the same lifespan as humans, yet no-one has been able to explain why or how they appear.

Then one day, thr ...more

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Apr 19, 2020 warren shear rated it it was amazing

A very interesting book. Easy to read and very instructive about Namibia. Characterisation good. It ends with a very inventive explanation of the fairy circles.

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Apr 13, 2020 Magdalena rated it really liked it

Shelves: adventure, aliens, empathy, family, friendship, grief, historical, ks3, ks4, mindfulness

An original story, with an intriguing plot, but the ending is a bit of a stretch with its ‘green message’.

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Oct 28, 2019 Bookworm rated it really liked it

Hallowed Ground by Paul Twivy is a story about 4 teens who meet at boarding school in Africa called the Augustineum and who are intrigued by the mysterious African Fairy Circles. Freddie, Hannah, Joe and Selima become easy friends while at the school. When they discover historic journals the kids believe there might be clues inside that will help them learn the truth about the fairy circles. They’ve been told the legend of the Golden Leopard, which claims that is how the circles originated but t ...more

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Oct 22, 2019 Leelynn (Sometimes Leelynn Reads) ❤ rated it liked it

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Rachel’s Random Resources and The Conrad Press for this free copy.

Personally I wouldn’t have classified this as YA even though the characters are described as teenagers. But I could be wrong. I felt like it dealt with way more adult themes and just read more like a New Adult book or something like that. But anyway, I just had to get that out there.

I think this was a really nice nov ...more

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Oct 24, 2019 Mahathi Ramya rated it it was amazing

4 teenagers from different countries and places meet at Augustineum, a boarding school in Namibia and become friends. Fred, Joe, Hannah and Selima are curious, intelligent and brave. They are curious to know about the Fairy circles in South Africa, which are expanded hundreds of miles and are vast enough to be seen from space.

As part of the school science project, they dig deep into the matter and fortunately their parents' backgrounds help them in the discovery.

The story is a fiction, but it ...more

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Nov 04, 2019 Jo - Cup of Toast rated it really liked it

'Hallowed Ground’ blends folk tales, history and geography into a story about a group of teenagers who have come together through circumstance in Namibia. Targeted at a Young Adult audience there is intrigue, real life drama and relationships along with an educational element relating to this South African country. The tale of the fairy circles is fascinating (take a look on Google images for real life photos, they’re incredible!) and I’d like to think that through his book Paul Twivy will inspi ...more

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Nov 20, 2019 Jessica Belmont rated it it was amazing

Hallowed Ground is about four teenagers, Fred, Joe, Hannah, and Selima who become friends in a boarding school in Nambia. As part of a school project, they look into the Fairy Cricles in South Africa.

Paul Twivy has written a story of fiction that is so well researched and crafted that every bit of it feels real. I love the mystery and suspense aspect. It kept me reading until the end. I also love the message of the story about the connections humans have to nature.

The look into African culture: ...more

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