The Sunbird

HARDCOVER (UK)

SOFTCOVERS

Synopsis

A hazy aerial photograph and a sinister curse - known only to the African - and Dr Benjamin Kazin stumbles onto the archaeological discovery of a lifetime... For nearly two thousand years, a brilliant and unknown ancient civilization has remained buried in southern Africa. Now at last the red cliffs of Botswana seem about to yield their secret.

Under the lavish patronage of his old friend and mentor, Louren Sturvesant, head of one of the richest companies in the world, and his green-eyed assistant Sally grope towards the mystery of the lost people. Magnificent cave paintings and the bushmen's legendary City of the Moon are the unexpected clues to the first discoveries that point to the existence of an ancient city, violently destroyed centuries ago.

But the magic of uncovering a lost culture is interrupted by dramas of a different kind: hunting scenes, romance and the violence of African terrorists. And all are skillfully echoed in the splendour of the ancient world, as in a breath-taking swept through time, the reader is transported back to the last days of the magnificent city itself...

Characters
PART 1
Dr Benjamin Kazin		Businessman, gold digger, hunter, warrior, adventurer, hero of the story.
Louren Sturvesant		Sean's younger twin brother. He is awarded the Victoria Cross after being wounded in battle which leaves him with a limp.
Dr Sally Benator		???
PART 2
Lannon Hycanus		Last king of Opet
Manatassi		Last king of Opet
Xhai		Bushman




Interesting Information
	First published in 1977 by William Heinemann Ltd.
	Reprinted in hardcover in 1974 and 1977
	Book dedication: for my wife, Danielle
	SUNBIRD is written in two parts: PART 1 is the present and PART 2 is the past.
	Wilbur discovered a ruined city in Botswana which became the inspiration for THE SUNBIRD. It is now a regular tourist spot. He comments: With journalism you are constrained by the facts. I don't give a damn for the facts: I just change them.
	When Wilbur was still a small boy, he and his younger sister were taken by their parents to visit the world-famous ruins of Zimbabwe. When the children were left by themselves for a short time, Wilbur decided to play his favourite game: frightening his sister with ghost stories. On this occasion, however, the game backfired. The ruins of the ancient city worked on his imagination, conjuring up their own ghosts. When the parents returned they found not only the little girl but Wilbur, too, quaking in a corner. It was this childhood event that sparked Wilbur's life-long interest in Africa's confused prehistory. While hardly into his teens he was to go into the bush with native gun bearers as his sole companions; he was to listen to their stories; he was even, in later years, to become the close friend of one of their most notable and wisest doctors, Credo Mutwa, the first Zulu ever to tell the outside world the secrets and legends of his people. The day came when suddenly the theories of the archaeologists and the tales Smith heard around the campfires fitted together in his mind. The experts who believed in a Carthaginian migration down the west coast of Africa were right: the natives, with their stories of fair-skinned invaders, proved it. Somewhere in the dead, dry centre of Africa there had once been a flourishing civilization, sun worship, walled cities, biremes moving on an inland sea... So THE SUNBIRD was born. It is a very personal story, growing out of the author's fascination with Africa's past and his belief in the cyclic, repetitive nature of history. Behind it lies copious research and also the questing, this-s-how-it-must-have-been mind of a master story-teller.
	THE SUNBIRD is Wilbur's favourite novel. It has special significance for him because it was the first novel he wrote after meeting Danielle.
	His personal stationery has a small, royal blue sunbird at the top. On the bottom right hand corner of the cover of all his hardcover books is printed an impression of the same sunbird that is on his stationery.
	His property in Constantia, South Africa, is called 'Sunbird Hill'.




Reader Reviews
	From Andre' Mes -
	THE SUNBIRD wastes no time in setting the scene for an incredible archaeological hunt for an ancient Phoenician city somewhere in the middle of Botswana's vast African veld. The hideously crippled, but intellectual Ben guides us through the exciting discovery of the ruined city to the incredible discovery that unfold the civilization's demise. The story then catapults back in time to the last days of the city, introducing us to new set of interesting characters. Smith holds nothing back lavishing in his descriptions of sweeping vistas to the gruesome, merciless death scenes. One almost tackles his novels like a child watching a horror film. The book disturbs you, yet you read on with a fascinating intrigue. Another of Smith's superlative efforts! Read it!
	From Marcel Berenblut -
	THE SUNBIRD is a novel full of surprises, many of which seem paralleled in RIVER GOD, a book with which this has more than a passing affinity. It is difficult to review a novel such as this without 'spoiling' the surprises for those who have yet to read it, but suffice to say it opens in Smith's usual assured style and seems to be painting a story that is in no way outstanding from the rest of Smith's work. Until, almost without warning, the book takes a leap, an extraordinary flight of fancy, that stuns the reader and keeps doing so. On second and third readings, you will be astonished by the intricacy Smith has laced into this work and amazed by the book's conclusion, so different from the usual 'Hollywood' endings of modern films and novels, where not only does everything work out 'OK', but is explained to the nth degree. This is a book to arouse genuine emotion and comes as close as any Smith novel to being a thing of real beauty. I'd give it six stars if I could!
	A splendid panoramic piece of writing, with colourful characters woven into an enthralling plot, set against immensities of the African landscape. - Oxford Times
	There is adventure, suspense and the atmosphere of a wider and wider world in a splendidly told tale related in a way which has made Wilbur Smith's stories so readable and exciting. - Guardian Journal
	This is a book which can be read as straight urgent adventure and compares with the exciting Rider Haggard yarns. - Good Housekeeping

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