Wilbur Smith · 1964 · overland

Wilbur Smith's 1964 debut, the first Courtney novel. In 1870s Natal, young Sean Courtney comes of age amid the horrors of the Zulu War - the massacre at Isandlwana, the stand at Rorke's Drift. Then, drawn by rumours of gold, he heads for the raw new diggings of the Witwatersrand, making and losing a fortune, before the wild lure of ivory calls him into the Bushveld.

1. 1
   Natal

   On his father's cattle farm in Natal, young Sean Courtney grows to manhood - and is flung into the horror and glory of the Zulu War, surviving the massacre at Isandlwana and the desperate stand at Rorke's Drift.

2. 2
   Witwatersrand

   Lured by tales of gold, Sean makes for the raw diggings of the Witwatersrand, where the boom-town of Johannesburg is rising from the veld - and where great fortunes are won and lost in a single morning's trading.

3. 3
   The Bushveld

   His fortune made and shattered, Sean turns his back on the gold fields and heads north into the wild Bushveld, chasing ivory and adventure through a land of elephant herds, fever and untamed country.