At
menreadingbooks.blogspot.com, we’ve already done 667 book reviews, but until
now, not one by the prolific Wilbur Smith. Mostly, we read crime novels and
thrillers, but historical fiction is also one of our favorite genres. This book
was suggested by Karen A. Chase, an author of historical fiction, and she has
promised to write the formal review of the book in the very near future, so
stay tuned for that. She said this was her first Wilbur Smith novel and it was
the book which set her on the course of writing in the same genre. A Sparrow Falls is the third book in an
eight-book series about the Courtneys. This one starts at the end of WWI and
extends through the 1920s, after the war, the story moves from France to South
Africa. Smith writes with remarkable prose, and his characters are alive and
real. This 630-page book kept me in it’s grip and I’m immediately moving Smith
into my power rotation. I’m glad I don’t have to kick anyone off my island of
favorite authors because it is starting to get crowded – and Smith belongs
there. He’s written 33 novels, so shame on us for not getting to him any
sooner. I’ve already acquired the first novel in this series, “When the Lion
Feeds,” and now I’ll take on Smith in the order that he wrote his books. This
is wonderful literature. Ms. Chase has led me into a treasure of novels. Thank
you, and I await your review.Sunday, July 13, 2014
A Sparrow Falls
At
menreadingbooks.blogspot.com, we’ve already done 667 book reviews, but until
now, not one by the prolific Wilbur Smith. Mostly, we read crime novels and
thrillers, but historical fiction is also one of our favorite genres. This book
was suggested by Karen A. Chase, an author of historical fiction, and she has
promised to write the formal review of the book in the very near future, so
stay tuned for that. She said this was her first Wilbur Smith novel and it was
the book which set her on the course of writing in the same genre. A Sparrow Falls is the third book in an
eight-book series about the Courtneys. This one starts at the end of WWI and
extends through the 1920s, after the war, the story moves from France to South
Africa. Smith writes with remarkable prose, and his characters are alive and
real. This 630-page book kept me in it’s grip and I’m immediately moving Smith
into my power rotation. I’m glad I don’t have to kick anyone off my island of
favorite authors because it is starting to get crowded – and Smith belongs
there. He’s written 33 novels, so shame on us for not getting to him any
sooner. I’ve already acquired the first novel in this series, “When the Lion
Feeds,” and now I’ll take on Smith in the order that he wrote his books. This
is wonderful literature. Ms. Chase has led me into a treasure of novels. Thank
you, and I await your review.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Guest Blog Post: Wilbur Smith, A Sparrow Falls
ReplyDeleteWest Coast Don and Men Reading Books has graciously allowed me, a female writer, into their blog with this guest post about Wilbur Smith’s 1977 novel A Sparrow Falls. I’m not often one to write reviews, but this book has a special place in my heart–both in my own history and because of the incredible writing.
First, Wilbur Smith is a master storyteller, with captivating and layered characters with both flaws and admirable qualities. A Sparrow Falls, is the third book in a series about the Courtney family. You need not have read the others to feel the weight of this story. It begins with, “A sky the colour of old bruises hung low over the battlefields of France…” There you are introduced to the book’s protagonist, Mark Anders, a war-weary sniper. A brief encounter with Sean Courtney, the patriarch of the Courtney family and a rugged General with zeal, guts and a glint in his eye, sets the stage for when the two reunite after the war in their homeland of South Africa. This story spans only a few years and two continents, but what Mark and Sean must fight after they return home makes for an epic tale. They fight a horrific revolt with the social workers and go on with the struggle to preserve and help rebuild Chaka’s Gate–a gorge and range on Zululand that is at risk for development. With lions, buffalo and wild game on the edge of obliteration. That the antagonist, the one striving to destroy the land, is Sean’s only son, Dirk, only adds psychological and emotional thrust to an already deep and intriguing story. Wilbur Smith deftly shows us Marc’s growth, from a boy in the military striving to become a man driven to duty by his own conscience. The women he encounters are as varied as the environments that Smith beautifully describes. It is rare that I have read such masculine fiction that equally portrays the growth of the men and women. But Marc’s love interest, Storm, is a character coming into her own in many ways, too. And Smith is an artist in his ability to lace tender, heady scenes between chapters of mournful, angry battles placed into exotic descriptions of the African tundra.
So, why my love of this author in terms of my history? I first read this book at age 16. I had been hanging out at my boyfriend’s home, reading a trashy historical novel, when my boyfriend’s father handed me A Sparrow Falls. “Read it. That’s historical fiction,” he said tossing my other book aside. I was hooked. I read Wilbur Smith’s entire Courtney collection and many others. Now, nearly 30 years later, I’ve reread that same copy of A Sparrow Falls. So, now I see. I see why the name Marc Anders has stuck with me for so long, and why I longed for a man who saw the land as part of himself. I see why becoming a woman who takes care of her own life mattered to me. I see why I’ve clung to any news coming out of South Africa. Why to this day, elephants gathered together in the wild makes me nostalgic for the way things used to be. Now, I also see why I am writing historical fiction. Fiction with guts. With battles. With incredible detail. Because I have read it. Because I read Wilbur Smith. If you have not, oh what great adventures await you…
Karen A. Chase is the author of Bonjour 40: A Paris Travel Log, winner of seven Independent Book Publishing Awards for travel and design. She is currently working on an historical novel set during the American Revolution. Find Karen on Facebook or on Twitter.