Lead Review (The Warrior King)
- Book: Warrior King
- Location: South Africa
- Author: Tom Harper, Wilbur Smith
This novel was completed by Tom Harper and published after the death of Wilbur Smith
The novel opens as Ann Waite, mourning the loss of her own baby, happens upon the infant Harry in a beached and damaged boat. Ralph Courtney, a scarred, hard man, who emerges from the vessel, is only too keen to abandon the child, and Ann, given her circumstances, is only too happy to care for the baby. She has the support of her husband, Frank.
Their life is extremely hard, they are settlers from the UK and try any which way to make a living. Meanwhile penal colonies, colonial tensions and battles for land rage around the southern tip of Africa, and Ann and Ralph are destined to meet once again. The warrior Zulu King Shaka has his own agenda which will have repercussions on Ralph and those in his orbit.
The author sets the story against the tense period of colonial history and effectively uses the landscape and weather to ratchet up the tension and atmosphere.
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