Assegai

Assegai is on the New York Times best-seller list, reached #1 on the UK Sunday Times best-seller list a week after publication, and topped the Argentinian, Australian, Canadian, Italian and South African best-seller lists!

My latest novel, Assegai, was published in Italy on 5 March, in South Africa on 12 March, in Australia and New Zealand on 1 April, in the United Kingdom and Hungary on 3 April, in Argentina on 2 May, in the United States and Canada on 12 May, in Turkey on 14 May, in Norway on 20 May, in France on 18 June, in Denmark on 25 June, in the Netherlands on 29 June, in Finland on 21 September, and in the UK as a paperback on 2 October 2009.

Assegai will be published in Greece by Harlenic on 29 January 2010, in Portugal in February, in the Czech Republic and in Poland in March, and in Russia in May 2010.

In 1913 Leon Courtney, an ex-soldier turned professional hunter in British East Africa, guides rich and powerful men from America and Europe on big game safaris in the territories of the Masai tribe. Leon has developed a special relationship with the Masai.

One of Leon's clients is Count Otto Von Meerbach, a German industrialist whose company builds aircraft and vehicles for the Kaiser's burgeoning army. Leon is recruited by his uncle Penrod Ballantyne (from The Triumph of the Sun) who is commander of the British forces in East Africa to gather information from Von Meerbach. Instead Leon falls desperately in love with Von Meerbach's beautiful and enigmatic mistress, Eva Von Wellberg.

Just prior to the outbreak of World War I Leon stumbles on a plot by Count Von Meerbach to raise a rebellion against Britain on the side of Germany amongst the disenchanted survivors of the Boer War in South Africa. He finds himself left alone to frustrate Von Meerbach's design. Then Eva Von Wellberg returns to Africa with her master and Leon finds out who and what she really is behind the mask...

>> Pan Macmillan UK has an autographed limited edition available
>> Watch a short promotional video
>> Read an excerpt
>> Read 'Lunch with the FT: Wilbur Smith' – an interview by William Leith of the Financial Times

On my site you'll also find …

Information on every one of my novels. Some of these form a series, such as those depicting the Courtney and Ballantyne families, or Ancient Egypt,
Text and audio excerpts,
Graphic family trees for the 'Egyptian' and 'Courtney' series, with brief descriptions of the main characters,
Information on the films and TV series based on my novels,
My biography (also in Dutch, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Turkish)
Questions you have asked,
My next public appearances, and more …