''The Burning Shore'' is a novel by

Wilbur Smith Wilbur Addison Smith (9 January 1933 – 13 November 2021) was a Northern Rhodesian-born British-South African novelist specializing in historical fiction about international involvement in Southern Africa across four centuries. He gained a f ...

set during and after World War I. Smith called the book his "Road to Damascus" moment because it was the first time he used a female as a major character. It is one of the Courtney Novels.

Plot

In 1917 during World War I, South African fighter pilot Michael Courtney falls in love with Centaine, a French woman. On their wedding day – prior to their wedding – Courtney is killed in action, and, following the destruction of her home by a German bombardment, the pregnant Centaine enrols as a nurse and embarks on a hospital ship for

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. The ship is torpedoed by a German U-Boat and Centaine lands on the Skeleton Coast. She attempts to make her way south to South Africa but is adopted by two San who teach her how to survive in the desert.

Background

Smith later recalled: "The women in some of my books are more powerful than the male characters, and that one was the breakthrough novel, because the female lead kicked the arse of all the males in the book... I was involved at the time with a very kick-arse woman econd wife Danielle Thomasand she was fascinating, and I adapted her into the story".

1991 film adaptation

The book was adapted into a film in 1991 called ''Mountain of Diamonds'' or ''The Burning Shore''. It was directed by Jeannot Szwarc. According to ''Filmink'' the project "stunk of MIPCOM (Jeannot Swarcz! Valerie Perrine! Jason Connery! Ernest Borgnine!)".

Cast

* Isabelle Gélinas as Centaine * Derek de Lint as Lothar de la Rey * Jason Connery as Michael Courteney * John Savage as Blaine * Jean-Pierre Cassel as Louis de Thiry * Marina Vlady as Anna * Ernest Borgnine as Ernie * Frank Finlay as Garrick

References

External links

* Novels by Wilbur Smith 1985 British novels Heinemann (publisher) books Novels set during World War I {{1980s-WWI-novel-stub