It is 1913 and ex-soldier turned professional big game hunter, Leon Courtney, is in British East Africa guiding rich and powerful men from America and Europe on safaris in the Masai tribe territories. One of his clients, German industrialist Count Otto von Meerbach, has a company which builds aircraft and vehicles for the Kaiser's burgeoning army. But Leon had not bargained for falling passionately in love with Eva, the Count's beautiful and enigmatic mistress. Just prior to the outbreak of World War I, Leon is recruited by his uncle, Penrod Ballantyne, Commander of the British Forces in East Africa, to gather information from von Meerbach. He stumbles on a plot against the British involving the disenchanted survivors of the Boer War, but it is only when Eva and von Meerbach return to Africa that Leon finds out who and what is really behind the conspiracy.

Wilbur Smith returns with the eagerly awaited sequel to his thrilling Egyptian series. Following on from River God, The Seventh Scroll and Warlock, The Quest continues the story of the Warlock, Taita, wise in the lore of the ancient Gods and a master of magic and the supernatural. Egypt is struck by a series of terrible plagues that cripple the Kingdom, and then the ultimate disaster follows. The Nile fails. The waters that nourish and sustain the land dry up. Something catastrophic is taking place in the distant and totally unexplored depths of Africa from where the mighty river springs. In desperation Pharoah sends for Taita, the only man who might be able to win through to the source of the Nile and discover the cause of all their woes. None of them can have any idea of what a terrible enemy lies in ambush for The Warlock in those mysterious lands at the end of their world.

Sasha Courtney was groomed by his French-born mother to take control of the Courtney Mining and Finance Company, whose font of wealth was sown deep beneath African soil. But Sasha’s brother, Manfred, had been trained by his renegade father to be a hunter — of lions, and of men. As the two boys became men, they took on the extraordinary powers of each parent: Sasha, a man in tune with his continent and its people; Manfred who, like his father, was willing to shape his world with a gun. So when the winds of World War II reached Africa, each brother chose a side… Now, the future of a young nation is being forged amidst a clash of civilizations, ideals, and blood feuds. And as Sasha and Manfred rise to power, a land of beauty and suffering will be remade — for better or for worse — in an image of their own

Wilbur Smith’s adventure tales are big, bold and unforgettable. In SHOUT AT THE DEVIL, the New York Times bestselling master storyteller takes us to a brutal paradise engulfed in the fires of civilization’s war...

In 1860, a man and woman approach the coast of Africa aboard a swift clipper — in the command of an American who knows no law. Robyn Ballantyne and her brother Morris have waited years for this moment: to return to Africa, to search for their missionary father who had disappeared somewhere in the wilderness. Traveling north from Cape Town, they follow a map left by a madman — into an uncharted world of waterfalls and jungle, teeming wildlife, murderous disease, and the ghastly ruins of an astounding city. Uncovering their father's trail, Robyn and her brother are in the midst of a slave trade that pours out of Africa like a bloody wound. Now, to survive what they have found, they must make their separate ways out — through pitched battles on land and on sea...and through the pride, passions and fury of their hearts...

It was called The Devils's Own: a steep scar in the African earth, around which men toiled with picks, shovels, and dreams of the milky treasures that would become prized, polished diamonds. In this demonic race, native tribesmen became miners. Sometimes they became thieves. And then they became rebels. Zouga Ballantyne, an African-born Englishman, sees the Devil's Own mine as his ticket to the North: a realm of waterfalls and fertile plains, teeming wildlife, and seeded fields of gold. But what happens in the diamond mines of the fledgling Boer Free State sets the course for Ballantyne and a cast of comrades, enemies, and lovers — and for the continent itself. From the visions of imperialists to the fury between a father and a son, from the lengths a man will go for a woman and a woman for her convictions, a tragic clash of generations and civilizations was shaking 19th century Africa, where some warriors fought for their gods — and others for the men who came before them...

The Van Der Byl Diamond Company, willed by its founder to his son Benedict, daughter Tracey and estranged foster-child Johnny Lance, turns out to be a bequest not of love, but of hatred. For it is couched in such terms as to offer Benedict an instrument of destruction of his bitterest rival. 'Destroy Johnny' was the old man's implacable message to his son, and, obsessively jealous of his foster-brother, Benedict sets out in ruthless pursuit of this goal. In a desperate bid to support Johnny, Tracey acquires for him the concession in the diamond-rich seabed round the coral islands of Thunderbolt and Suicide off the savage South West African coast, and Johnny throws all his resources into the construction of a vessel that will recover the stones from the ocean floor and repair his fortune at last. But Benedict, already involved in illegal diamond-dealing as a sideline, seizes this chance to attack his rival and, with a network of accomplices and some ingenious electronic tampering, plots to syphon off the diamonds. Johnny will not only be ruined by his liabilities, he will also be a laughing stock. However, Benedict's obsessive jealousy is his undoing. He cannot resist stripping his rival of his beautiful but bitchy wife Ruby as well, and when he then discards her, she takes her revenge, precipitating a climax of murder and destruction that consumes Benedict at last. Narrated with Wilbur Smith's irresistible driving thrust, this is a tale of brotherly hatred, redeemed only by the deepening love between Johnny and Tracey. It is set in London, Cape Town, on the thunderous seas around the ocean diamond fields and ends in a final confrontation between Johnny and Benedict in the blistering hyena-infested desert.

Wilbur Smith sets his vividly realistic novels on the razor's edge between human courage and nature's wrath. InHungry As The Sea, this master storyteller takes us to the frigid South Atlantic, where one man fights for his life — and for redemption. Nicholas Berg is steaming out of Cape Town aboard the salvage tug Warlock. Once Berg ruled an ocean-going empire. Now, his future has come down to a powerful boat and a daring rescue mission. One of his former ships is being lashed against the cliffs of Cape Alarm, surrounded by deadly icebergs and survivors clinging to their boats. Berg has gambled everything on reaching the Golden Adventurer before a competitor and a violent storm — to win a fortune in salvage fees. But if Nick Berg succeeds, and climbs back into the international shipping game, that's when the real danger will begin... From the power of a relentless ocean to the hunger of men to survive upon her, this is a towering novel of adventure, love and the daring of the human soul.

This is an Intermediate Level story in a series of ELT readers comprising a wide range of titles — some original and some simplified — from modern and classic novels, and designed to appeal to all age-groups, tastes and cultures. The books are divided into five levels: Starter Level, with about 300 basic words; Beginner Level (600 basic words); Elementary Level (1100); Intermediate Level (1600); and Upper Level (2200). Some of the titles are also available on cassette.