The Steps of the Sun — Joanna Trollope

Set in 1899 in South Africa, as the rumblings of dissent and racial resentment began to erupt into a savage war between Boer and Briton, so three young men found their lives drawn together. Matthew Paget, son of an archdeacon, was turbulent, rebellious, and longing for excitement. Will Marriott, his cousin, was an officer who believed in England's greatness and the glory of battle. Hendon Bashford was an upstart social climber, a swindler and a cheat. as the passage of war unfolded, so the lives of these three young men, and the women they loved, moved towards a tumultuous climax.