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!


Friday, November 9, 2012

Review in IndieReader

The following review appeared today in the Ezine 'IndieReader': Verdict: The Settler is an engaging and authentic work of historical fiction. It is also suspenseful up to the last page. Oxford graduate Martin Russell could land a job of his choice in London. But remaining in England is the last thing on his mind. Before he started university, Martin served with the British Army in India. His sense of adventure is piqued by that experience and later by a speech he hears at Oxford given by Cecil Rhodes: There is a land of imaginable space, of unfound riches, unexplored, waiting for men like you. Go there. See for yourselves. Martin pictures a peaceful life as a pioneer and farmer. Before he departs for Cape Town, a family friend asks him to accompany his nephew—a young American named Perry Davenport—to South Africa and then up to Rhodesia. Perry is to check out business opportunities for an uncle who runs gold mines. The two men embark not only on a monumental journey, but also on a life-long rivalry involving women and opposite sides of a war. Brian Duncan elegantly weaves the story of Martin and Perry against the backdrop of the Matabele War in 1983, the Mashonaland Rebellion in 1986, and the Second Boer War from 1899 to 1902. Duncan scatters Afrikaans words throughout the story, and creates characters that are life-like and sympathetic, no matter their flaws. History buffs will enjoy how Duncan gives supporting appearances to historical figures such as Winston Churchill and Mohandas Gandhi, as well as the commanders of the Boer and British armies. Parts of the novel are graphic and disturbing, but that is to be expected with stories set during war. The Settler is an engaging and authentic work of historical fiction. It is also suspenseful up to the last page.

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