Power Of The Sword

HARDCOVER (UK)

SOFTCOVERS

Synopsis

Manfred De La Rey and Shasa Courtney, the sons of Centaine de Thiry, were blood enemies from their very first boyhood encounter. caught up in the tumult of South Africa's history through two decades, they found themselves adversaries in an age-old war of savagery to seize the sword of power in their land.

Sweeping from the teeming goldfields of the highveld to the secret citadels of Afrikaner power, from the clamouring stadiums of Hitler's Berlin Olympics to a raging war over Abyssinia, their story was to become a rich, thrilling adventure, an epic saga of rivalry and revenge, of winners and losers in a struggle where only the ruthless survived.

Characters
Centaine de Thiry		Beautiful French woman engaged to be married to Michael Courtney before his untimely death. After traveling to Africa where she encounters its incredibly harsh and merciless desert, she ruthlessly claws her way up into the South African elite society building a family empire that would be instrumental in the building of an Apartheid-ridden country.
Anna		Centaine's nurse who traveled with her to Africa, but was separated in the shipwreck.
General Sean Courtney		Father of Michael
Sir Garrick Courtney		Michael's uncle (and 'father') and Sean's brother. He arranges Centaine's passage to Africa.
Shasa		Son of Centaine and Michael Courtney and half-brother to Manfred De La Rey.
Lothar De La Rey		Hunter, adventurer and rogue. Father of Manfred De La Rey. He is eventually imprisoned after a failed diamond heist.
Manfred De La Rey		Son of Centaine and Lothar.
Dr Twentyman-Jones		Diamond expert who runs Centaine's H'Ani Mine.
Swart Hendrik		Friend of Lothar who was also involved in the failed diamond heist.




Interesting Information
	First published in 1986 by William Heinemann Ltd.
	Published in softcover by Pan Books Ltd in 1987.
	Book dedication: For Danielle with all my love
	Book preface: If I would have given away to an arbitrary way, for to have all Laws chang'd according to the Power of the Sword, I needed not to have come here. - King Charles I of England. Speech on the scaffold on 30 January 1649.
	Click here to find out more about the Courtneys of Africa family tree.
	In 1991 an Italian-financed TV series was filmed which took the plots from THE BURNING SHORE and THE POWER OF THE SWORD and merged them into a 360 minute series called 'THE BURNING SHORE' or 'MOUNTAIN OF DIAMONDS'. It was directed by Jeannot Szwarc, who had previously directed films such as JAWS 2, SUPERGIRL, SANTA CLAUS - THE MOVIE and SOMEWHERE IN TIME! Despite the good cast, the production was poorly received. To view clips and pictures from this show, click here.




Reader Reviews
	A stupendous story, written in the grand old manner, from the master of thoroughgoing adventure... - David Hughes, The Mail On Sunday
	An epic novel...it would be hard to think of a theme that was more appropriate today... Smith writes with a great passion for the soul of Africa. - Today

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