Wilbur Smith · 1982 · overland

Wilbur Smith's 1982 Ballantyne saga. In the 1890s, Ralph Ballantyne helps seize Matabeleland for Rhodes - until the Matabele rise in furious rebellion and are broken at last in the Matopos Hills. A century later, his descendant Craig Mellow is drawn back to the family land in the Zambezi valley, as a new war for the country's soul erupts across Rhodesia.

1. 1
   Bulawayo

   At the new settler town of Bulawayo, Ralph Ballantyne prospers on the ruin of the Matabele kingdom, laying railways and telegraph across the land - until the proud Matabele, pushed too far, rise in sudden and bloody rebellion.

2. 2
   The Matopos

   The revolt is crushed at last in the granite fastness of the Matopos Hills, where the Matabele make their stand and where Rhodes rides unarmed into the hills to parley for a fragile peace - a truce written in blood.

3. 3
   The Zambezi valley

   A century on, the last Ballantyne, Craig Mellow, is drawn home to the family land in the Zambezi valley - only to be caught up in a new and savage war, as the old wounds of conquest tear open once again across Rhodesia.