New book Damn Lucky - a remarkable war memoir

Damn Lucky is the remarkable true story of a young man who left his native Sweden to fight with the armed resistance during Uganda’s ‘war in the bush’. Against the fragile backdrop of war’s brutal theatre he found brotherhood, a sense of purpose and belonging and – in the most unlikely of places – true love.

Damn Lucky

What Is Righteous and Worth Fighting For… and at What Price?

By Valder Larka

In 1982, aged 17, Valder Larka moved with his family to Nairobi, where his father’s UN post took him to Kenya. Unlike most ex-pats Valder was keen to explore the world outside of the affluent suburbs. His curiosity led him to a bar in the slums, where he met Moses, a Ugandan exile.  In their many conversations, Moses told Valder of the conflict, upheaval and years of terror that had forced so many Ugandans into exile. Valder’s empathy for those standing their ground against oppression invoked the warrior spirit he had inherited from his Viking ancestors, and with it the desire to fight for what was righteous.

For the next two years Valder helped Moses and other exiles as best he could, assisting in ways that were seldom legal and often risky. He reluctantly returned to Sweden to begin university but found himself in turmoil; unable to settle back into the comfortable life of a European student and feeling as though he had deserted his Ugandan friends. Without his parent’s knowledge, and barely out of his teens, Valder returned to Nairobi determined to join Uganda’s armed resistance.

He soon found himself in the midst of a brutal war; barely surviving a horrific attack on a village, in which he was almost certainly the only survivor. Rescued by Jonathan, the commander of a guerilla unit and nursed back to health by his beautiful niece Sambana, Valder convinced the unit to let him stay and fight alongside them.

Valder quickly learnt that war’s path is unpredictable and its character ugly. He was forced to confront the wild animal that prowls beneath the veneer of our seemingly civilized selves and accept that fighting a war is in no way black and white, but many shades of grey. An unforeseen chain of events set in motion a catastrophe that tore Valder’s world – and heart – apart. But from the ashes of war, love can offer redemption and peace can begin to heal…

As the Ugandan bush war was a time of great political upheaval and unrest, the names of the author and other characters in this book have been changed to protect their identities. A born adventurer, Valder Larka was roaming the woods and forests of Sweden’s wilderness from an early age. There he discovered an inherent link and a deep affinity with nature. Not so many years later he discovered another link which took him into the midst of a peoples’ struggle for freedom from oppression and tyranny.

Damn Lucky is published by Hay House, £12.99 PB and also available as an e-book

The book is available for extract and serialisation, the author is available for interview but wishes to remain anonymous. For publicity enquiries please contact Jessica Crockett – jessicacrockett@hayhosue.co.uk or 020 8962 1248

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