Bryce Courtenay – författare

From Bryce Courtenay comes a new novel about Africa. The time is 1939. White South Africa is a deeply divided nation with many of the Afrikaner people frantically opposed to the English. The world is also on the brink of war and South Africa elects to fight for the Allied cause against Germany. Six year-old Tom Fitzsaxby finds himself in The Boys Farm, an orphanage in a remote town in the high mountains, where the Afrikaners side fiercely with Hitler's Germany. Tom's English name proves sufficient for him to be ostracised, marking him as an outsider. And so begin some of life's tougher lessons for the small lonely boy. Like the whitethorn, one of Africa's most enduring plants, Tom learns how to survive in the harsh climate of racial hatred. Then a terrible event sends him on a journey to ensure that justice is done. On the way, his most unexpected discovery is love.

‘I am Sylvia Honeyeater; I think myself born around 1196, and this is the story of my life. I am cursed by folk as an optimist and a dreamer, which is a dangerous combination. . .’Sylvia is the story of the Children's Crusade, which occurred in the year 1212, and is perhaps the strangest true event to have taken place in European history. It is also a story of how, throughout some of the darkest medieval times, the redeeming power and strength of a young woman's love and intelligence prevail over poverty, brutality and bigotry. Sylvia was a remarkable, talented and eccentric young woman and this is her story.

'A superb storyteller ... it is impossible not to be impressed by Courtenay's talents' - The Times JESSICA is based on the real life of a remarkable young Australian woman who defied the conventions of her time. She had a stubborn streak and the courage to act out her convictions ... in spite of the consequences. This compelling, sweeping story is her personal fight for justice against enormous odds, and a testimony to the power of the human spirit to triumph over adversity.

Brutally kidnapped and separated in childhood, Tommo and Hawk are reunited at the age of fifteen in Hobart. Together they escape their troubled pasts and set off on a journey into manhood. From whale hunting in the Pacific to the Maori wars of New Zealand, from the Rocks in Sydney to the miners' riots at the goldfields, Tommo and Hawk must learn each other's strengths and weaknesses in order to survive. Especially in their last, worst confrontation between good and evil. Brilliantly evoking a time of struggle and triumph in the young colonies, Bryce Courtenay has created an unforgettable tale of the enduring bond between two brothers.

When Mary Abacus dies, she leaves her business empire in the hands of the warring Solomon family. Hawk Solomon is determined to bring together both sides of the tribe - but it is the new generation who must fight to change the future. Solomons are pitted against Solomons as the families are locked in a bitter struggle that crosses battlefields and continents to reach a powerful conclusion. Solomon's Song is a novel of courage and betrayal in which Bryce Courtenay tells the story of Australia's journey to nationhood.

Four fires: passion, religion, warfare and fire itself. Along with love - perhaps the brightest flame of all - these four fires drive the human spirit.In a small town much like any other around Australia live the Maloneys. They are a fifth-generation family of Irish Catholic descent, struggling to reach the first rung of the social ladder. The Maloneys are a family you won't forget: a strong mother, a father broken by war, three boys and two girls, one with an illegitimate daughter. Each of their lives is changed forever by the four fires.FOUR FIRES is unashamedly a story of the the power of love and the triumph of human spirit against the odds.

Nicholas Duncan is a semi-retired shipping magnate who resides in idyllic Beautiful Bay in Indonesia, where he is known as the old patriarch of the islands. He is grieving the loss of his beautiful Eurasian wife, Anna, and is suffering for the first time from disturbing flashbacks to WWII, the scene of their first meeting and early love. His other wartime lover is the striking Marg Hamilton, a powerful and influential political player in Australia who has remained close to Nick. Marg suspects Nick is suffering the onset of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and organises for a specialist to meet with him in Sydney. But when they meet, Tony Freedman stirs long-buried emotions in Nick and the two men don't hit it off. Nick leaves in an explosion of anger and finds himself in hospital after being hit by a car. Tony visits and encourages Nick to write as a form of therapy - to write about Anna.So he sets about writing about the woman who has inspired him since his late teens, and in doing so draws us into the compelling tale of the life he has lived post war-hero days building a shipping empire, navigating international corruption, supporting his wife's third-world education crusade and loving the women who inspire him.

First with your head and then with your heart … To Peekay, a seven-year-old boy who dreams of being the welterweight champion of the world, this is a piece of advice that he will carry with him throughout his life. Born in a South Africa divided by racism and hatred, this one small boy will come to lead all the tribes of Africa. And in a final conflict with his childhood enemy, the Judge, Peekay will fight to the death for justice. Bryce Courtenay''s classic bestseller is a story of the triumph of the human spirit – a spellbinding tale for all ages. ''The ultimate international bestseller.'' New York Times

Tandia sat waiting anxiously for the fight to begin between the man she loved the most and the man she hated the most in the world. Tandia is a child of Africa: half Indian, half African, beautiful and intelligent, she is only sixteen when she is first brutalised by the police. Her fear of the white man leads her to join the black resistance movement, where she trains as a terrorist. With her in the fight for justice is the one white man Tandia can trust, the welterweight champion of the world, Peekay. Now he must fight their common enemy in order to save both their lives. ''This is a marvellous book … first and foremost it is a momentous story, for Bryce Courtenay is a glorious storyteller.'' The Advertiser ''Nine hundred pages of sheer blockbuster pleasure.'' Sunday Age

''I am Sylvia Honeyeater; I think myself born around 1196, and this is the story of my life.'' From master storyteller Bryce Courtenay comes the colourful epic of Sylvia. Late twelfth-century Europe is torn by religious intolerance. Sylvia, with a singing voice that can literally charm the birds out of the trees, and an acute and questioning mind that refuses to accept unreasoned beliefs, embarks on a pilgrimage. She joins the Children''s Crusade, bound for the Holy Land. From a bawdy life as an entertainer in a whorehouse to an austere and frequently cruel existence in a convent, she fights to be true to her destiny. And her mysterious birthmark causes much confusion: can this peasant maid indeed be a chosen messenger? Sylvia is a tale of adversity, of adventure and crusades, and of a beautiful and gifted woman. brycecourtenay.com facebook.com/BryceCourtenay

Simon Koo is an ambitious Australian-born Chinese who goes to Singapore in the mid-sixties to work for an advertising agency. But the Wing brothers, who run the agency, are not what they seem. There is soon trouble when Simon falls in love with the forbidden Mercy B. Lord.With no family or connections, this beautiful young woman is powerless to resist the evil influence of Beatrice Fong, a manipulative businesswoman who, in league with the Wing brothers, lures her into the international trade in sex workers and heroin trafficking involving the American CIA. Simon must save her at any cost. Set against the wretched trade in drugs and human misery operating during the Vietnam War, Fortune Cookie is a spellbinding thriller, with a story of love against impossible odds at its heart. ''A multi-layered, cross-genre epic with tremendously broad appeal.'' Sun-Herald brycecourtenay.com facebook.com/BryceCourtenay

During the Great Depression there was little hope for a boy born into the slums of Cabbagetown, Toronto. But Jack Spayd is offered a ticket out in the form of a Hohner harmonica, won by his brutal drunken father in a late-night card game. Jack makes music as a way of escaping his surroundings, and his talent leads him to a jazz club and, eventually, to the jazz piano. Jack is a virtuoso and hits the road, enchanting audiences in Canada, wartime Europe and Las Vegas, where he is caught up in the world of elite poker and falls under the spell of his boss, the enigmatic Bridgett Fuller. Vegas is a hard town ruled by the Mafia, but Jack prospers, until his luck turns bad and he falls foul of the Mob. Forced to run for his life from Vegas, he must also leave the woman he adores. His adventuring takes him to the far reaches of Africa, to a rare and valuable bird that may seal his fate – and to the love of a very different woman. Set across three continents, Jack of Diamonds is a spellbinding story of chance, music, corruption and love – and Bryce Courtenay''s last novel.''Jack of Diamonds is classic Courtenay.'' The Age

A Recipe for Dreaming is a little treasure of wise words and beautiful images. With insight, humour and a deep sense of humanity, Bryce Courtenay inspires us to become dreamers and questioners, creators of lives that are rich and rewarding. Illuminating these musings are the superb visual poems of Anie Williams.''Whatever the dream, no matter how daring or grand, somebody will eventually achieve it. It might as well be you.'' Bryce Courtenaybrycecourtenay.com facebook.com/BryceCourtenay

Each of us has a place to return to in our minds, a place of clarity and peace, a place to think, to create, to dream. For Bryce Courtenay this place was a waterhole in Africa where he used to escape to as a boy, in search of solitude. One evening, while lingering there, he witnessed the tallest of the great beasts drinking from the waterhole in the moonlight, and was spellbound. Ever since, he drew inspiration from this moment. The Silver Moon gathers together some of the most personal and sustaining life-lessons from Australia''s favourite storyteller. In short stories and insights, many written in his final months, Bryce reflects on living and dying, and how through determination, respect for others and taking pleasure in small moments of joy, he lived life to the fullest. From practical advice on how to write a bestseller to general inspiration on how to realise your dreams, The Silver Moon celebrates Bryce Courtenay''s lifelong passion for storytelling, language and the creative process, and brings us closer to the man behind the bestsellers.