 First edition | |
| Author | Wilbur Smith |
|---|---|
| Country | South Africa |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Heinemann |
Publication date | 1977 |
| Preceded by | The Sound of Thunder |
| Followed by | The Burning Shore |
A Sparrow Falls is a 1977 novel by Wilbur Smith. It is one of the Courtney Novels and is set during and after World War I. [1] [2]
It was the most popular of Smith's novels in the US to date although it still did not sell as well as in Europe and Africa. [3]
While in France a young sniper, Mark Anders, meets Sean Courtney who has risen to the rank of general. Following the end of the war the pair return to South Africa. After finding that his grandfather has died under mysterious circumstances, and his property has been taken over by an unknown company, Anders eventually becomes Sean's assistant. This brings him onto contact with Sean's beautiful, spoiled daughter, Storm, who he falls for. Sean Courtney becomes involved in suppressing the Rand Revolt of 1922 before becoming immersed in violent conflict with his corrupt son, Dirk.
The novel was banned in South Africa by the Directorate of Publications (whose predecessor the Publications Control Board, which had banned a number of Smith’s earlier novels). They had found three of its 650 pages to be objectable. However the Directorate joined with Smith’s publisher in appealing their own decision. The appeal was successful but the Directorate of Publications then reimposed the ban it again claiming that 11 passages were too sexually explicit. The Publication Appeal Board lifted the ban in 1981. [4]
During the time that it was banned at least one person who had bought it overseas to read on the flight bringing him to South Africa had had it confiscated by a customs official upon arrival. [4]
Smith was awarded the Golden Pan Award in 1982 from his publisher Pan Books in recognition of the novel having achieved sales of a million copies. [4]
Wilbur Addison Smith was a Northern Rhodesian-born British-South African novelist specialising in historical fiction about international involvement in Southern Africa across four centuries.
Shout at the Devil is a 1976 British war adventure film directed by Peter R. Hunt and starring Lee Marvin and Roger Moore. The film, set in Zanzibar and German East Africa in 1913–1915, is based on a novel by Wilbur Smith which is very loosely inspired by real events. The supporting cast features Barbara Parkins and Ian Holm.
Gold is a 1974 British thriller film starring Roger Moore and Susannah York and directed by Peter R. Hunt. It was based on the 1970 novel Gold Mine by Wilbur Smith. Moore plays Rodney "Rod" Slater, general manager of a South African gold mine, who is instructed by his boss Steyner to break through an underground dike into what he is told is a rich seam of gold. Meanwhile, he falls in love with Steyner's wife Terry, played by York. In the United States, the film was released only as part of a double bill.
The Censorship of Publications Board is an independent board established by the Censorship of Publications Act, 1929 to examine books and periodicals that are for sale in the Republic of Ireland. It is governed by the Censorship of Publications Acts of 1929, 1946 and 1967. The Board has the authority to prohibit any book or periodical that they find to be obscene. This makes it illegal to buy, sell or distribute that publication in the Republic of Ireland. The Board prohibited a large number of publications in the past, including books by respected authors. However, since the 1990s it does not prohibit publications very often.
Burger's Daughter is a political and historical novel by the South African Nobel Prize in Literature-winner Nadine Gordimer, first published in the United Kingdom in June 1979 by Jonathan Cape. The book was expected to be banned in South Africa, and a month after publication in London the import and sale of the book in South Africa was prohibited by the Publications Control Board. Three months later, the Publications Appeal Board overturned the banning and the restrictions were lifted.
When the Lion Feeds (1964) is the debut novel of Rhodesian writer Wilbur Smith. It introduces the Courtney family, whose adventures Smith would tell in many subsequent novels. In 2012, Smith said the novel remained his favourite because it was his first to be published.
Assegai is Wilbur Smith's thirty-second novel, it follows The Triumph of the Sun in which the author brought the Courtney and Ballantyne series together. Assegai tells the story of Leon Courtney and is set in 1906 in Kenya. The events in the story are linked to and precede the outbreak of World War One.
The Sound of Thunder is a novel by the Rhodesian writer Wilbur Smith. It is the second book in the Courtney Series and it is set several years after the first book, When the Lion Feeds, focusing around the Second Boer War.
The Courtney Novels are a series of seventeen novels published between 1964 and 2019 by Wilbur Smith. They chronicle the lives of the Courtney family, from the 1660s through until 1987. The novels can be split into three parts; the original trilogy of novels follow the twins Sean and Garrick Courtney from the 1860s until 1925. The second part is five books which follows Centaine de Thiry Courtney, her sons and grandchildren between 1917 and 1987. The third part, the most recently written, follows the Courtney family from the 1660s through until 1939, focusing on successive generations of the family. There are also two books that follow the third series. As well, there are three additional Courtney books.
The Ballantyne Novels are a series of novels published between 1980 and 1984 by Wilbur Smith. They chronicle the lives of the Ballantyne family, from the 1860s to the 1980s against a background of the history of Rhodesia.
The Burning Shore is a novel by Wilbur Smith set during and after World War I.
Men of Men is a novel by Wilbur Smith, the second in the Ballantyne Novels series. It is set in the 1880s during the colonisation of Rhodesia and the First Matabele War and climaxes with the Shangani Patrol.
The Angels Weep is a 1982 novel, the third in Wilbur Smith's series about the Ballantyne family of Rhodesia. The first part of the book is set immediately before and during the Second Matabele War, then the second part jumps forward to the final days of the Rhodesian Bush War.
Power of the Sword (1986) is a novel by Wilbur Smith set before and during World War II.
Rage is a 1987 novel by Wilbur Smith set in the Union of South Africa, immediately following World War II. It starts in 1952 and goes until the late 1960s, touching on the country's declaration of a republic and the subsequent Sharpeville Massacre. The plot centers around Shasa Courtney and black resistance leader Moses Gama.
A Time to Die is a 1989 novel by Wilbur Smith. Set in 1987, it is chronologically the last of the 13 Courtney Novels. Smith did not regard it strictly as a Courtney novel, however, claiming "it's just got a Courtney name in it. It's not in the mainstream of the series."
Golden Fox is a novel by Wilbur Smith, one of the Courtney Novels. It is set from 1969 to 1979 and touches on the South African Border War and the revolution in Ethiopia.
Birds of Prey is a 1997 novel by Wilbur Smith set in the late 17th century. The novel was the first in the third sequence of the Courtney series of novels, and as of 2013 was chronologically the first in the entire series.
The Triumph of the Sun is a novel by Wilbur Smith set during the Siege of Khartoum. Smith himself said the following about the novel:
"That incident had all the elements of a great story setting because you have the captive characters who are having to interact with each other because there is no escape – siege conditions. Also the river. I’m fascinated by the great rivers of Africa. Played against that was a sort of island setting in the desert. Then it had such powerful influences at work – the British Empire against the revolting Mahdists, the conflict of religions, Gordon and the Mahdi, both of them totally fanatical, believing that they spoke directly to God, and unbendable and unbending."
What Happened to Burger's Daughter or How South African Censorship Works is a 1980 collection of essays by South African novelist Nadine Gordimer and others. The book is about the South African government's banning and subsequent unbanning of Gordimer's 1979 novel Burger's Daughter.
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