Wilbur Smith

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  • Bibliography:
    59 Books (4 Series)
  • First Book:
    January 1964
  • Latest Book:
    September 2025
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About the Author

Wilbur Addison Smith (88)
(9 January 1933 – 13 November 2021) was a Zambian-born South African novelist specialising in historical fiction about the international involvement in Southern Africa across four centuries, seen from the viewpoints of both black and white families.

Full Series List in Order

Ancient Egypt

1 - River God (Mar-1994)
2 - Seventh Scroll (Apr-1995)
3 - Warlock (May-2001)
4 - The Quest (May-2007)
5 - Desert God (Oct-2014)
6 - Pharaoh (Oct-2016)
7 - New Kingdom (Sep-2021)
8 - Titans of War (Oct-2022)

The Ballantyne Novels

1 - Flight of the Falcon // A Falcon Flies (1980)
2 - Men of Men (1981)
3 - The Angels Weep (1982)
4 - The Leopard Hunts in Darkness (1984)

The Courtneys of Africa

1 - When the Lion Feeds (1964)
2 - The Sound of Thunder // The Roar of Thunder (1966)
3 - A Sparrow Falls (1977)
4 - The Burning Shore (1985)
5 - Power of the Sword (Sep-1986)
6 - Rage (Oct-1987)
7 - Time to Die (Mar-1990)
8 - Golden Fox (Mar-1991)
9 - Birds of Prey (Jul-1997)
10 - Monsoon (May-1999)
11 - The Blue Horizon (May-2003)
12 - The Triumph of the Sun (Apr-2005)
13 - Assegai (Apr-2009)
14 - War Cry (Apr-2017)
15 - The Tiger's Prey (Oct-2017)
16 - Courtney's War (Sep-2018)
17 - King of Kings (Apr-2019)
18 - Ghost Fire (Sep-2019)
19 - Legacy of War (Apr-2021)
20 - Storm Tide (Apr-2022)

Hector Cross

1 - Those in Peril (May-2011)
2 - Vicious Circle (Oct-2013)
3 - Predator (Mar-2016)

Book List in Order: 59 titles

  • When the Lion Feeds

    • / Action Adventure
    • Buy Buy
    The Courtneys of Africa - 1

    Sean Courtney is as big and bold and dangerous as Africa itself. His farming days halted by the threat of Zulu spears, Sean flings himself wholeheartedly into a life crowded with passion and violence -- the massacre at Isandhlwana, the heroism of Ror...

  • The Train from Katanga // Dark of the Sun

    • / Action Adventure
    • Buy Buy

    A FORTUNE IN GEMS was up for grabs at Port Reprieve. For three months the town had been cut off from the rest of the world. All around them the tribes were burning and killing indiscriminately. It was only a matter of days before they unleashed a sc...

  • The Sound of Thunder // The Roar of Thunder

    • / Action Adventure
    • Buy Buy
    The Courtneys of Africa - 2

    BLOOD BROTHERS The blood of the Courteney family turned to fire in the veins of twin brothers Sean and Garrick. It was only a matter of time before it exploded into a tempest of violence and death. After years in the jungle, Sean was ripped fro...

  • Shout at the Devil

    • / Action Adventure
    • Buy Buy

    IT'S AFRICA. IT'S 1914. IT'S FAST. IT'S BIG. PASSION, VIOLENCE AND VENGEANCE -- IN AN EPIC SAGA OF ADVENTURE IN THE DARK CONTINENT A renegade American adventurer ... a reckless British aristocrat ... the arrogant and beautiful woman they both l...

  • Gold Mine

    • / Action Adventure
    • Buy Buy

    LUST FOR GOLD GOLD -- it devoured them like a disease. No one was immune, from the miners who were trapped in the steaming underground caverns, to the syndicate kingpins who parlayed human disaster into stock market killings and absolute power. ...

  • The Diamond Hunters

    • / Action Adventure
    • Buy Buy

    Death Mine A diamond empire unites them. A struggle for power divides them. Johnny Lance and Benedict van der Byl, almost brothers, have come to the crossroads of their lifetime rivalry. Far beneath the African earth waits a fabulous cache of min...

  • Sunbird

    • / Action Adventure
    • Buy Buy

    A Journey of Wonder and Terror It all begins with a blurry, black-and-white aerial photograph. To the trained eyes of Dr. Benjamin Kazin, it is the archaeological discovery of a lifetime: evidence of an unknown ancient African civilization and the...

  • Eagle in the Sky

    • / Action Adventure
    • Buy Buy

    A Man who had everything. A Woman whom no one man could satisfy for long. A Love that gave them more than they had ever dreamed, if they dared pay the price. DAVID was an incredibly handsome playboy who used the most beautiful women and e...

  • The Eye of the Tiger

    • / Action Adventure
    • Buy Buy

    WHERE IS THE TIGER? Beneath the sea's glittering calm, where the marlin swam with the shark, fish were not the only game. Harry's boat was for hire, and they paid him well. He could slip through coral reefs and the law with the same ease. Bu...



  • Cry Wolf

    • / Action Adventure
    • Buy Buy

    A GAMBLE IN BLOOD Gareth Swales and Jake Barton--a dapper English rogue and a rugged Texas engineer-- down-on-their-luck mercenaries, ace hustlers; together they set out to deliver a cargo of ancient armored cars and guns--and a beautiful young co...

  • A Sparrow Falls

    • / Action Adventure
    • Buy Buy
    The Courtneys of Africa - 3

    FROM THE BLOODY TRENCHES OF WORLD WAR I TO A WILDERNESS PARADISE, IT WAS MAN AGAINST MAN, HUSBAND AGAINST WIFE, FATHER AGAINST SON... Wealthy, powerful General Sean Courtney, war hero, veteran of the African goldfields, dedicated to preserving the...

  • Hungry As the Sea

    • / Action Adventure
    • Buy Buy

    A HERO, Nicholas Berg, fighting to regain his power as head of a seagoing empire and his honor as a man... A SHIP, Warlock the most modern ocean salvage vessel ever built to face the primal fury of nature at its peak... A WOMAN, Samantha Sil...

  • The Delta Decision // Wild Justice

    • / Action Adventure
    • Buy Buy

    International terrorism had ceased to be a series of random acts of violence. It had become a superbly organized, highly financed, and tremendously effective conspiracy to conquer the earth. At its head, planning its every monstrous move, defying...

  • Flight of the Falcon // A Falcon Flies

    • / Action Adventure
    • Buy Buy
    The Ballantyne Novels - 1

    He is the rover, a lawless trader in human cargo who will possess any man--or woman--he chooses. She is the healer, plunged into the heart of a sprawling, untamed land, searching for a lost father, bringing God's word to exotic tribes. Robyn Ba...

  • Men of Men

    • / Action Adventure
    • Buy Buy
    The Ballantyne Novels - 2

    When the stone falcons fly, then war will come. So ran the prophecy for a part of Africa glittering with the promise of diamonds and raging with the fever of human hearts. In this dangerous land where only the strongest and luckiest survive, a pow...

  • The Angels Weep

    • / Action Adventure
    • Buy Buy
    The Ballantyne Novels - 3

    At the dawn of a new century, a bold adventurer and his proud missionary sister, establish a legacy that will dominate Rhodesia for centuries to come. But in the hills, the Matabele indunas are already preparing for the bloody rebellion which will sc...

  • The Leopard Hunts in Darkness

    • / Action Adventure
    • Buy Buy
    The Ballantyne Novels - 4

    BLOOD LEGACY He is the son of Ballantynes, the powerful dynasty that had conquered a continent. Today, amid the violent conflicts of emerging Africa, Craig Mellow confronts a bloody colonial past... and a perilously uncertain future. New rul...

  • The Burning Shore

    • / Action Adventure
    • Buy Buy
    The Courtneys of Africa - 4

    When British flying ace Michael Courtney bails out of his plane in the French countryside, beautiful young Centaine de Thiry nurses him back to health, falls in love with him, and is pregnant with his child when he tragically dies in battle. Centaine...

  • Power of the Sword

    The Courtneys of Africa - 5

    THE TUMULTUOUS BIRTH OF A NATION. THE UNFORGETTABLE WAR WITHIN ONE FAMILY In the harsh and beautiful land of South Africa, races clash in an unequal struggle for justice. A nation takes its defiant place on the international stage from the ruins ...



  • Rage

    The Courtneys of Africa - 6

    A World Aflame Never have the destinies of a nation and of a family been so dramatically entwined. In the decades after World War II, South Africa struggles against the tribal violence at its heart--between Englishman and Afrikaaner, white and bla...

  • Time to Die

    The Courtneys of Africa - 7

    Land of Blood and Passion A new revolution is raging that will forever change the face of Africa. Caught between the politicians and the deep wilderness tribes, between the sudden crack of a rifle and the blood-lust roar of the wild, one man strug...

  • Golden Fox

    The Courtneys of Africa - 8

    PACT WITH THE DEVIL The Courtney family blood has long run hot as hot as the passion and turmoil boiling in war-torn South Africa. When one of their own succumbs to the worst kind of evil, those ties are put to the ultimate test. Isabella Court...

  • Elephant Song

    WHITE GOLD Ivory. In Africa, it is the tragic and thrilling object of greed, corruption, and senseless death. In this dangerous world of poachers and blood money, one determined man and one dedicated woman risk their lives to stop the senseless sl...

  • River God

    Ancient Egypt - 1

    Ancient Egypt, Land of the Pharaohs. A kingdom built on gold. A legend shattered by greed... Now the Valley of the Kings lies ravaged by civil war, drained of its lifeblood, as weak men inherit the cherished crown. For Tanus, the fair-haired yo...

  • Seventh Scroll

    Ancient Egypt - 2

    For 4,000 years, the lavish crypt of the Pharaoh Mamose has never been found ... until the Seventh Scroll, a cryptic message written by the slave Taita, gives beautiful Egyptologist Royan Al Simma a tantalizing clue to its location. But this is a ...

  • Birds of Prey

    The Courtneys of Africa - 9

    As the choppy sea lanes of the African coast are rife with bloody battles over trade booty, Sir Francis Courteney and his 17-year-old son Hal embark on a seafaring quest for the treasure-laden galleons of the Dutch East India Company. But soon the ho...

  • Monsoon

    The Courtneys of Africa - 10

    ONE MAN. THREE SONS. A POWERFUL DESTINY WAITING TO UNFOLD. Once a voracious adventurer, it has been many years since Hal Courtney has dared the high seas. Now he must return with three of his sons--Tom, Dorian, and Guy--to protect the East India T...

  • Warlock

    Ancient Egypt - 3

    A PHARAOH'S VISION OF A BRILLIANT NEW EMPIRE The mission of Prince Nefer, rightful heir to the throne, is to rebuild a magnificent kingdom in the stark and tumbled ruins of the embattled city of Gallala. The desire of Lord Naja is to destroy his riv...

  • The Blue Horizon

    The Courtneys of Africa - 11

    With adventure in their blood, Jim and Mansur Courtney seek to carve out a life for themselves and their families in the unexplored splendor of Africa. But laying claim to a land devastated by war yields unexpected risks. No sooner does their journey...



  • The Triumph of the Sun

    The Courtneys of Africa - 12

    In his New York Times bestselling novels Wilbur Smith has captured the drama of a vast continent. Now, in his most magnificent tale yet, he takes us back to 1884 and into the # dusty city of Khartoum, where an English family and besieged populace wai...

  • The Quest

    Ancient Egypt - 4

    A CIVILIZATION AT THE BRINK OF RUIN Egypt has been struck by a series of terrible plagues, killing its crops and crippling its people. Then the ultimate disaster befalls the kingdom: the Nile fails. The waters that nourish and sustain the land dry ...

  • Assegai

    The Courtneys of Africa - 13

    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 tribal territories. One of his clients is German industrialist Count ...

  • Those in Peril

    Hector Cross - 1

    Hazel Bannock is heir to the Bannock Oil Corporation, one of the major global oil producers. While cruising the Indian Ocean, her yacht is hijacked by Somalian pirates and her nineteen-year-old daughter, Cayla, kidnapped. The pirates demand a crippli...

  • Vicious Circle

    Hector Cross - 2

    Internationally bestselling author Wilbur Smith returns with Vicious Circle--a heart-racing story of family secrets, greed, and revenge. Hector Cross left behind a career of high risks and warfare when he married his beloved Hazel Bannock. But aft...

  • Desert God

    Ancient Egypt - 5

    Game of Thrones meets Ancient Egypt in this magnificent epic from one of the world's biggest-selling authors. Conjuring the magic, mystery, and bloody intrigue of a fascinating lost world, Desert God presents Wilbur Smith at the helm of one of the gr...

  • Golden Lion

    For readers of Game of Thrones, Ken Follett, and Clive Cussler: an epic adventure spanning land and sea ... time and distance ... courage, revenge, and everything in between. He saw his father executed in battle. He spent his youth avenging that d...

  • Predator

    Hector Cross - 3

    Former operative Major Hector Cross must face off against a pair of lethal enemies and prevent an international catastrophe in this gripping contemporary adventure-thriller One of the most formidable fighters in the world, ex-SAS warrior and forme...

  • Wildernis

    Die Eerste Wêreldoorlog gooi Sean Courtney en die skerpskutter Mark Anders se lot saam toe hulle in die loopgrawe in Frankryk ontmoet. In ’n ongerepte wildernis in Suid-Afrika bereik Mark se verterende liefde vir die eiesinnige Storm Court...

  • Pharaoh

    Ancient Egypt - 6

    EGYPT IS UNDER ATTACK. Pharaoh Tamose lies mortally wounded. The ancient city of Luxor is surrounded, All seems lost. Taita, advisor to the Pharaoh, prepares for the enemy’s final, fatal push. The ex-slave, now general of Tamose’s armies, is ...



  • War Cry

    The Courtneys of Africa - 14

    The saga of the legendary Courtney family continues in this fourteenth installment in Wilbur Smith’s bestselling series -- the sequel to 2009’s Assegai -- a thrilling tale of espionage, adventure, and danger, set in Africa and spanning from the G...

  • The Tiger's Prey

    The Courtneys of Africa - 15

    The New York Times bestselling author of Desert God and Pharaoh adds another chapter to his popular historical saga featuring the seafaring Tom Courtney, the hero of Monsoon and Blue Horizon, with this magnificent swashbuckling saga set in the eighte...

  • The Last Shepherd

    The Last Shepherd tells how at the beginning of the Common Era, Palestine was in chaos socially, politically, and spiritually. Political turmoil during the life of Jesus affected his ministry and caused him deep concern that he was not reaching the p...

  • Courtney's War

    The Courtneys of Africa - 16

    A Courtney Series novel and sequel to the global bestseller WAR CRY Paris, 1939 - Torn apart by war, Saffron Courtney and Gerhard von Meerbach are thousands of miles apart, both struggling for their lives.  Gerhard - despite his o...

  • King of Kings

    The Courtneys of Africa - 17

    The sequel to Wilbur Smith's worldwide bestseller, The Triumph of the Sun.An epic story of love, betrayal, courage and war that brings together two of Wilbur Smith's greatest families in this long-awaited sequel to his worldwide bestseller, ...

  • Ghost Fire

    The Courtneys of Africa - 18

    A Courtney Series novel by bestselling author, Wilbur Smith.  1754. Inseparable since birth and growing up in India, Theo and Connie Courtney are torn apart by the tragic death of their parents. Theo, wracked with guilt, strikes a solitary path ...

  • Call of the Raven

    The action-packed and gripping historical adventure by global sensation Wilbur Smith, about one man's quest for revenge.'An exciting, taut and thrilling journey you will never forget' - SunTHE DESIRE FOR REVENGE CAN BURN THE HEART OUT OF A MANThe son...

  • Legacy of War

    The Courtneys of Africa - 19

    A Courtney Series adventure.An action-packed book in the Courtney Series and the sequel to Courtney's War. Just because the war is over and Hitler dead, doesn't mean the politics he stood for have died too. Saffron Courtney and her beloved husba...

  • New Kingdom

    Ancient Egypt - 7

    An Egyptian novel from the master of adventure fiction, Wilbur SmithAn Ancient Egyptian novel from the master of adventure fiction and global number 1 bestselling author, Wilbur Smith. In the heart of Egypt Under the watchful eye of the gods A n...

  • Storm Tide

    The Courtneys of Africa - 20

    Multimillion copy bestselling author Wilbur Smith returns with a brand-new historical epic, set against the backdrop of the American revolution. The Courtney family is torn apart as three generations fight on opposing sides of a terrible war that ...



  • Shockwave

    Third high-octane instalment in the bestselling author's compelling Jack Courtney Adventures for readers 10+, following CLOUDBURST and THUNDERBOLT.On the pretext of making a film for his mother's environmental protection work, Jack wangles an expedit...

  • Prey Zone

    AN EXPLOSIVE WILBUR SMITH ADVENTURE FOR TEEN READERS!The next generation of Ballantynes fight a terrifying new threat in this adrenaline-fuelled adventure...Ralph and Robyn live at Crocodile Lodge, their family ranch in South Africa. They follow in t...

  • Titans of War

    Ancient Egypt - 8

    Global bestselling author of River God and The New Kingdom, Wilbur Smith, returns with the next epic book in his brand-new Ancient Egyptian series.AN UNSTOPPABLE ENEMY. A CIVILIZATION IN RUINS. A QUEST FOR SALVATION. For over fifty yea...

  • Nemesis

    A brand-new historical epic from the Master of Adventure, in which three strands of the Courtney family converge in a bloodthirsty bid for revenge.Paris, 1794. Revolutionary fervour has erupted into the Reign of Terror. A young man, Paul Co...

  • Testament

    A brand-new Ancient Egyptian epic from the number 1 bestselling author.Global bestselling author of River God and The New Kingdom, Wilbur Smith, returns with the next epic book in his brand-new Ancient Egyptian series. FROM THE RUINS OF BATTLE A HERO...

  • Warrior King

    South Africa, 1820. When Ann Waite discovers a battered longboat washed ashore in Algoa Bay, she is stunned to find two survivors: a badly scarred sailor and a little boy. As the man walks away into the morning mist alone, refusing to take the child ...

  • Fire on the Horizon

    The sequel to worldwide bestsellers The Triumph of the Sun and King of Kings.A FAMILIAR FOE. A BATTLE FOR THE HEART OF A COUNTRY AT WAR WITH ITSELF. South Africa, 1899 - the smouldering hostility between the Boers of the Transvaal and Orange Free Sta...

  • Crossfire

    A race against time Courtney series thriller from the Master of Adventure, Wilbur SmithIt's 1943 and the tides of the Second World War are changing: the Germans are losing and the Allies are on their way. Special Operations Executive, Saffron...

  • House of Two Pharaohs

    The next action-packed novel in Wilbur Smith's new Egyptian seriesGlobal bestselling author of River God and The New Kingdom, Wilbur Smith, returns with the next epic book in his brand-new Ancient Egyptian series. FROM THE SHADOWY UNDERWORLD A N...

  • Goudmyn

    • / General Fiction
    • Buy

    Toe Jak Stapelberg die pos van hoofbestuurder van die Sonderkloof-goudmyn aangebied word, weet hy dis te goed om waar te wees. Hy is te jonk en boonop beskik hy nie oor die nodige kwalifikasies nie. Sy vermoede word bevestig toe Manfred Steyner sy vo...

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Wilbur Smith has published 59 books.

The next book by Wilbur Smith, House of Two Pharaohs, will be published in September 2025.

The first book by Wilbur Smith, When the Lion Feeds, was published in January 1964.

Yes. Wilbur Smith has 4 series.
Pseudonyms / Co-Author
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