Lionel Wulfsohn’s Golden Years is a nostalgic reflection of a life growing up in the platteland dorp of Rustenburg at the beginning of the Twentieth Century. The story starts with a historical description of the author’s forebears, before presenting a series of childhood and adolescent memories. These serve to capture the closeness of family life and the freedom of skinny-dipping in the mountain pools of Magaliesberg. Other sketches include: a bitterly fought general election; transport in the 1290s; and a sprinkling of salty characters, such as veterans of both the Anglo-Boer War and the British Colonial era, and a German-Jewish air ace from World War One. The book ends with a detailed account of the author’s own experience at the Battle of Monte Stanco in World War Two. Taken altogether, the book is an enchanting mix of anecdote and bittersweet humour, presenting the essence of Rustenberg between the wars and the author’s own powerful moment of destiny in war-torn Italy.