Wilbur Smith · 2003 · overland

Wilbur Smith's 2003 Courtney saga. In the Dutch Cape Colony, young Jim Courtney rescues Louisa, a girl condemned aboard a prison ship, and the two become fugitives from colonial justice. To escape the soldiers hunting them, they flee north out of Cape Town along the perilous Robber's Road into the untamed African interior - a journey through a wilderness of wild game and warring tribes.

1. 1
   Cape Town

   In the Dutch colony at the Cape, Jim Courtney glimpses Louisa aboard a storm-driven prison ship and cannot forget her - and when he frees her, he makes himself and his whole family fugitives from the colony's iron law.

2. 2
   The Karoo

   Jim and Louisa flee north from the Cape into the dry vastness of the Karoo, their heavily laden wagons rolling into open country as Dutch cavalry ride out behind them, determined to recapture the girl and hang the young Courtney.

3. 3
   The Orange River

   Along the old Robber's Road they press deeper into the wild, crossing the great Orange River into a land beyond colonial reach - a country of lion and elephant, of hardship and freedom, where the two fugitives slowly fall in love.

4. 4
   The highveld

   Out on the high grasslands of the interior, among warring tribes and untouched herds, Jim and Louisa carve out a new life at the edge of the known world - the founders of another branch of the sprawling Courtney line.