This is a novel about conspiracy, trust, and treachery against a background of large-scale economic and political forces. Access to the Boer Republics’ gold mines and diamond mines is the name of the game. The issue of colonialism jumps to the fore. Ladysmith puts British colonialism in Africa into a global context by beginning the novel some twenty years before the siege, when Kiernan, the future hotelkeeper, escapes arrest for his revolutionary activities in Ireland; and ending with a section called "The Monologues of the Dead," in which some of the characters speak about subsequent events, including Churchill’s disdain for Gandhi and his opposition to Indian independence.

Black Africans also have central roles in Ladysmith, especially a Zulu family that consists of Muhle; his wife, Nandi; and their son, Wellington. The Boers expel them from the mines in the Transvaal and are driving them home to Natal when they become separated as a result of a Boer raid. Muhle remains outside Ladysmith and is conscripted to carry guns for the Boer army, whereas his wife and son reach the town. At the risk of his own life, Wellington carries messages between the two sides, thus symbolizing the double vulnerability of Africans caught in the middle of the white man’s wars.