About The Lion and Leopard Trilogy of historical novels

'The Lion and the Leopard' is a trilogy of historical novels set in Africa.

The first novel, 'The Settler' was published in March 2012, and has now sold over 10,000 copies. It's about loves and wars in the cauldron of Southern Africa in 1890-1902, where a young Englishman and his American companion become accidental soldiers. Can they survive the vicious fighting between settlers and African tribesmen, and between British and Boer armies? Which of four pioneering young women will they choose to share their challeges?

'The Settler' in Amazon.com

The second novel, 'Lake of Slaves', was published in June 2014. “In the 1880s the Lake Nyasa area of central Africa is devastated by Arab slave traders and raids by Angoni warriors. Livingstone's 'Lake of Stars' has become a 'Lake of Slaves'. Alan Spaight is among a handful of British men fighting the slavers. After a year as a trader he starts a coffee plantation, while torn between the enticement of his doctor’s wife and his neighbour’s attractive daughter. He is drawn repeatedly into conflicts with the slavers, in company with mission-educated Goodwill, a former slave who escaped to return to his village. A new Consul, Harry Johnston, brings in British officers and Sikh soldiers in 1891, and the tide turns. After another five years of bitter fighting the slave trade is finally destroyed.”


The third and last novel in the trilogy, 'The Lion and the Leopard', is set in the area round Lakes Nyasa and Tanganyika during the 1914-18 War. The 'Lion' in the title is the badge of the British South Africa Police (BSAP), the paramilitary force in Rhodesia. The 'Leopard' in the title is the Nyasaland Volunteer Reserve (NVR). Both outfits served with distinction in the First World War. I served in both of them, many years later!


Wednesday, November 30, 2011

A new historical novel


'The Settler' is a new historical novel, set in Southern Africa during 1890-1902, a period of great turmoil. An epic story of loves and wars set against the background of the Pioneer Column to Mashonaland (1890), the Matabele War (1893), the Mashonaland Rebellion (1896) and the Boer War (1899-1902).

A young Englishman, Martin Russell (the settler) travels to Southern Africa in 1890 to farm in the scarcely explored territory north of the Limpopo River. His companion, a feckless American, Perry Davenport, prospects for gold. Their courage is tested against Lobengula's impis in the Matablele War of 1893. Returning from the war they visit an isolated farm and both men fall for the lovely daughter of their host. Later, Martin becomes entangled with the wife of an inept aristocrat and fellow settler, and is drawn closer to her during the 1896 Mashona Rebellion, while her husband is embroiled in the ill-fated Jameson Raid.

Conflict in the region erupts and Martin and Perry find themselves on opposite sides in the Boer War (1899-1902). Both men are swept through the worst of the long and bitter war. When Perry is captured and tried as a spy, only Martin's testimony can save him from execution.

'The Settler' was published in March 2012 and is climbing up the best-seller lists!
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