The bestselling adventure writer sold more than 140-million copies of his books, over a career spanning half a century
Senior school was the prestigious Michaelhouse in what is now KwaZulu-Natal Midlands in SA. Smith was no happier: “Michaelhouse was a debilitating experience,” he recalled. “There was no respect for the pupils. The teachers were brutal, the prefects beat us, and the senior boys bullied us. It was a cycle of violence that kept perpetuating itself.” Reading and creative writing became his refuge.
At 16, he contracted polio which left him with a weak right leg, but it caused him little problem until later in life. The experience prompted his depiction of the flawed hero in his novels, in particular Garrick Courtney in the Courtney series of adventures., the story of brothers Sean and Garrick Courtney, and the tough life of cattle farming in the shadow of the Zulu wars and the gold rush. It was infused with the world he knew intimately.
As well as standalone novels, from piracy and poaching to diamond smuggling and the pursuit of buried treasure, Smith expanded his, of conflict and ambition within a sprawling family, moving back and forward through the centuries. Oh no. RIP Wilbur Smith. The first writer who I collected the entire bibliography of and a firm favourite of my grandad. See you at sunset on the other side of the plains.
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