Storm Tide: The landmark 50th global bestseller from the one and only Master of Historical Adventure, Wilbur Smith

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Ever since Aidan could walk, he had followed his big brother like a shadow, desperate not to be left behind. When Cal learned to ride, Aidan had dislocated his collarbone trying to clamber onto the horse. When Cal started boxing with his friends, Aidan had come home with a broken arm. Sometimes, Cal appreciated the adoration. For most of the past fourteen years, he had found it intensely annoying.

And what of the rest of the world?’ said Rob. As exciting as his family history had been, he had heard the stories so often they could not help but become dulled. He did not want to live in the past. ‘What wars and battles and great contests now do they talk about in the coffee houses of London?’ There was nothing Rob could say. He watched the pinnace row out to the Dunstanburgh Castle, the topmen running along the yards to loosen the sails. He imagined how the world would look from that height, balanced on a thin spar with nothing except a hundred feet of air between him and the ocean. The crew fitted the spokes to the capstan and began hauling up the anchor. As the ship prepared for departure, it seemed as if his whole future was about to sail away. The boy is growing up,’ said Cornish. George’s scowl deepened; Cornish hastily changed the subject. ‘Where is Jim?’ Theo thought Cal had named the horse for his fearsome temper, and Cal had not told him the truth. He did not want his father to think he was ungrateful.But that will be the most boring party in the world,’ Theo complained. ‘Old men talking about the price of cotton all night.’ My father was a colonialist and I followed what he said until I was in my 20s and learned to think for myself", he said. "I didn't want to perpetuate injustices so I left Rhodesia in the time of Ian Smith." [12] God speed,’ she whispered, though not without a tremor in her heart. She put her hand on her breast. There was a lump there, invisible beneath the skin. She had told no one, not even Jim, but she had felt it, growing inside her with malignant power. The Army of the Blood of Liberty.’ Cal tried to invest the name with gravitas and majesty, though he knew it was a mouthful. The name was a compromise. Half the boys had insisted they should be the Army of Liberty, the others were adamant they should be the Blood of Liberty. After hours of heated debate, they had settled on both.

He is a growing young man, with a young man’s desires,’ Mansur reflected. ‘It is natural he should want to see such things.’ There will be no war,’ said Theo, in a voice that brooked no argument. He crumpled the two scraps of paper into a ball and threw it into the fire. He glared at Cal, defying him to protest. ‘And if I hear any more of this treason, you will find you are not yet old enough that I cannot give you a thrashing.’ If you don’t say, I’ll tell Pa you’ve been spooning Liza Hartwell in her barn. He’ll forbid you to ever go again.’Smith stayed with the Courtney family for Power of the Sword (1986) (up to World War II), Rage (1987) (the post-war period up until the Sharpeville massacre), A Time to Die (1989) (the war in Mozambique) and Golden Fox (1990) (the Angola War). On the far side of the ocean, nearly eight thousand miles away in the colony of Massachusetts, Theo Courtney was in a towering fury. His fingers could not keep their grip. He came away from the wall, landing in a heap on top of the guards. Before he could run, they held him in a tight grip. Cornish saw the look on Rob’s face. ‘Your son is grown up,’ he said to George. ‘It is time he made his way in the world.’ Arriving in London, Rob is seduced by the charms of the big city and soon finds himself desperate and penniless. That is until the navy comes calling. Rob enlists and is sent across the Atlantic on a ship to join the war against the rebellious American colonists.