The Burning Shore

This is Book 4 of the Courtney Series but it is the one that stuck in my mind from 20 plus years ago and it was that memory that drove me back to the saga and to hugely enjoy it the second time around.
The Courtney Series runs from the initial entry onto the southern tip of Africa by the Europeans, through the conquest of the continent and its eventual emancipation; the latter within my lifetime.
This particular book encapsulates the beauty and the beast within this whole period. Fleeing from the aftermath of the Great War, pregnant with an… show more.

With immersive descriptions of lush French landscapes against the backdrop of WWI to skin-blistering scenes in the African Kalahari Desert, the settings are characters themselves. Smith’s writing is like a love letter to the Africa of yesteryear.

What follows is a tale of all-consuming love, wincing brutality, and Smith’s signature romanticized adventure. Centaine de Thiry—my first literary heroine. She survives incredible odds against mother nature, but also holds her own in the even harsher world designed by men. She is also perfectly flawed. Her misjudgment even makes me, her greatest admirer, gasp and do a double take—every read.

And don’t… show more.