100,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock πŸ‡³πŸ‡Ώ

Auckland Bookstore open today until 5pm! πŸŽ‰

Fire on the Horizon

The Courtneys and the Ballantynes come together once again in a new Wilbur Smith epic for 2024
4.26 goodreads logo

Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.

Check link for latest rating.
( 941 ratings, 36 reviews)
Brief Description
Fire on the Horizon by Wilbur Smith and Imogen Robertson is an epic historical adventure set against the tumultuous backdrop of South Africa in 1899. The simmering tension between the Boers of the Transvaal and Orange Free State and the British colonies of the Cape and... Read More
Format: Hardback
Save 14% Off
Savings are calculated from our regular price of $35.00 compared to the current price of $30.00.
$3000
Elsewhere:
$4500
On Sale
in Romance Reads Sale until 29 Jul or while stocks last
OVERNIGHT NZ-WIDE DELIVERY

Found a better price? Request a price match

A FAMILIAR FOE. A BATTLE FOR THE HEART OF A COUNTRY AT WAR WITH ITSELF.

A brand-new Wilbur Smith epic

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Fire on the Horizon by Wilbur Smith and Imogen Robertson is an epic historical adventure set against the tumultuous backdrop of South Africa in 1899. The simmering tension between the Boers of the Transvaal and Orange Free State and the British colonies of the Cape and Natal threatens to ignite into full-scale war. As the conflict looms, the lives of two families are set to be indelibly transformed.

Colonel Penrod Ballantyne, a celebrated hero of Abu Klea and Omdurman, has been dispatched to Mafeking – aptly known as 'the place of stones'. His mission: to recruit and prepare men for the imminent battles. Accompanying him is his wife, Amber, a successful novelist keen to witness the land for which her husband is risking everything. As war erupts, Amber is forced to flee with their infant son, her prayers anchored on Penrod's survival amidst overwhelming odds.

Far to the south in Cape Town, Ryder Courtney, an audacious adventurer and prosperous industrialist, channels his resources and influence in support of the British war endeavour. His wife, Saffron, an artist stifled by the conservative milieu of Cairo society, joins Ryder along with their three children. Believing in the sanctuary of their home, Saffron's world is upended when their eldest son, Leon, clandestinely boards a train to the frontline. His ambition to stand alongside his distinguished uncle, Penrod, compels his parents to abandon their secure life and follow. Unbeknownst to Leon, his quest for honour will lead him straight into the paths of the parents he underestimates.

Fire on the Horizon intricately weaves the destinies of the Courtneys and the Ballantynes, portraying their struggle for survival and honour in a land torn by internal strife. These two families are caught in a dramatic struggle over the heart of a nation at war with itself, vividly bringing to life the fraught and fiery spirit of the era.

For fans of Wilbur Smith’s gripping historical narratives, this novel stands as the compelling sequel to the global bestsellers The Triumph of the Sun and King of Kings. Journey once again into the heart of Africa with the timeless lore of family, courage, and the unforgiving reality of war.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781838776862

Publisher: Zaffre

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 29 August 2024

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Zaffre

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 35.0mm

Width: 162.0mm

Height: 240.0mm

Weight: 611g

Pages: 384

About the Author

Wilbur Smith was born in Central Africa in 1933. He became a full-time writer in 1964 following the success of When the Lion Feeds, and has since published over fifty global bestsellers, including the Courtney Series, the Ballantyne Series, the Egyptian Series, the Hector Cross Series and many successful standalone novels, all meticulously researched on his numerous expeditions worldwide. An international phenomenon, his readership built up over fifty-five years of writing, establishing him as one of the most successful and impressive brand authors in the world.

The establishment of the Wilbur & Niso Smith Foundation in 2015 cemented Wilbur's passion for empowering writers, promoting literacy and advancing adventure writing as a genre. The foundation's flagship programme is the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize.


Wilbur Smith passed away peacefully at home in 2021 with his wife, Niso, by his side, leaving behind him a rich treasure trove of novels and stories that will delight readers for years to come. For all the latest information on Wilbur Smith's writing visit www.wilbursmithbooks.com or facebook.com/WilburSmith


Imogen Robertson studied languages at Cambridge and was a TV director before her first novel Instruments of Darkness was published in 2009. She is the author of The Crowther and Westerman crime series and The Paris Winter. Her novels have been shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger three times. You can find her online at www.imogenrobertson.com or on twitter @RobertsonImogen



Also by Imogen Robertson

View all
  • King of Kings
    Cairo, 1887. A beautiful September day. Pernod Ballantyne and his fiancΓ©e, Amber Benbrook, stroll hand in hand. The future is theirs for the taking. But when Penrod's jealous former lover, Lady Agatha, plants doubt about his character, Amber leaves him and travels to the wilds of Abyssinia with her twin sister, Saffron, and her adventurer husband, Ryder Courtney. On a...
    Hardback
    $4500
    Elsewhere:
    $4999
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • King of Kings
    An epic story of love, betrayal, courage, and war that brings together two of Wilbur Smith's greatest families in this long-awaited sequel to his worldwide bestseller, The Triumph of the Sun. Cairo, 1887. A beautiful September day. Penrod Ballantyne and his fiancΓ©e, Amber Benbrook, stroll hand in hand. The future is theirs for the taking. But when Penrod's jealous former...
    Paperback
    $2600
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks

Also by Wilbur Smith

View all
  • On Sale
    12% off
    New Release
    Vengeance
    ENEMIES BY BIRTH. BROTHERS IN BLOOD. Praise for Wilbur Smith 'A master storyteller' β€” Sunday Times 'No one does adventure quite like Smith' β€” Daily Mirror 'Best historical novelist' β€” Stephen King Van Diemen's Land, 1835 Ralph Courtney has had everything taken from him β€” his wife, his son, his fortune, his freedom. Chased from the hills of Zululand, he...
    Hardback
    $2900
    Elsewhere:
    $4500
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • House of Two Pharaohs
    FROM THE SHADOWS. A NEW EVIL WILL RISE. FACELESS. NAMELESS. Since his appointment as Nomarch of Memphis by the God-Pharaoh Rameses, Piay has thrown himself into pulling the city back from the brink. The famous white city walls have been rebuilt, the once starving inhabitants fed, and every day caravans have arrived from the desert wastes, filled with the many...
    Hardback
    $2999
    Elsewhere:
    $4500
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • On Sale
    18% off
    When the Lion Feeds
    A special reissue of the first book in Wilbur Smith's long-running Courtney Series to mark the 60th anniversary. With an introduction by bestselling author, Conn Iggulden. Brothers by birth. Enemies by blood. Natal, 1860; the Courtney twins are born. Heirs to their father's fortune, destiny divides the boys from the start - Garrick is eager to stay indoors with a...
    Paperback
    $2300
    Usually:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The Sound of Thunder
    In the same way Sean saw it coming, he recognised it as the murderous rage which before had nearly killed a man, but still he could not prepare himself. And then it was upon him and the roaring filled his head. Some will win. And some will lose. Sean Courtney returns from the African wilds to find war has been...
    Paperback
    $2600
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Testament
    An epic new novel of Ancient Egypt, from the Master of Historical Adventure, Wilbur Smith. IN THE RUINS OF BATTLE A HERO MUST RISE FOR THE FUTURE OF EGYPT Years of Hyksos rule have seen the ruin and suffering of a once-mighty Egypt. Though Pharaoh is now restored to his rightful throne, his power is fragile as some seek to...
    Hardback
    $4100
    Elsewhere:
    $4500
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Elephant Song
    The poachers that come across this side are organised and better armed than we are. They shoot to kill - men as well as elephants and rhino. We have been forced to do the same. If we run into a band of poachers, we shoot first. Who sings for the lost country? Dr Daniel Armstrong, ecologist and documentary maker, has...
    Paperback
    $2600
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Monsoon
    The sun went down behind the storm clouds, and stained them with its blood, then the rain fell upon the ship in torrents. Solid sheets of water hammered the wooden decks so hard that the din drowned the men's voices and blotted out their vision. They leave as brothers. They must return as men. Famed sailor Hal Courtney is now...
    Paperback
    $2799
    Backorder
    Ships mid August
  • Blue Horizon
    Jim sprang back on to the truck of the violently rocking wagon, and stared across at Manatasee. She saw him and pointed her assegai at his face. Then he saw the length of slow-match had been exposed across the last yard of trampled earth below the mound on which the queen stood. The swift flame shot along it, leaving the...
    Paperback
    $1500
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The Angels Weep
    The lion rose lightly into the air, and settled like a huge yellow bird on the horse's back, crushing Jan Cheroot beneath his massive, blood-streaked body. At that instant, horse and rider and lion seemed to disappear into the very earth, and there was only a swirling column of dust to mark where they had been. A new generation. An...
    Paperback
    $2600
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • On Sale
    13% off
    Crossfire
    ONE SHOT AT STOPPING A TRAITOR. ONE CHANCE TO CHANGE HISTORY. Praise for Wilbur Smith 'A master storyteller' Sunday Times 'No one does adventure quite like Smith' Daily Mirror 'Best historical novelist' Stephen King WILBUR SMITH RETURNS WITH A BRAND-NEW SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING WORLD WAR II THRILLER 1943. The tide of the Second World War is turning. The Russian victory...
    Paperback
    $2000
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The New Kingdom
    In the heart of Egypt Under the watchful eye of the gods A new power is rising In the city of Lahun, Hui lives an enchanted life. The favoured son of a doting father and ruler-in-waiting of the great city, his fate is set. But behind the beautiful faΓ§ades, a sinister evil is plotting. Craving power and embittered by jealousy,...
    Paperback
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Ghost Fire
    In this brand new Courtney Series novel by bestselling author Wilbur Smith, comes an epic story of tragedy, loss, betrayal and courage that brings the reader deep into the seething heart of the French and Indian War. 1754. Inseparable since birth and growing up in India, Theo and Connie Courtney are torn apart by the tragic death of their parents....
    Paperback
    $2600
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday

More from Crime & Thriller

View all
  • New Release
    It Could Have Been Her
    PREPARE TO BE HOOKED: The no. 1Β Sunday TimesΒ and MULTI-million-copy bestselling author is back with a brand-new spine tingling thriller. It was the night she almost died. Jane Trevally, newly divorced and feeling a little lost, agrees to accompany a man she doesn't know to his house in the darkest corner of Hampstead Heath. She's offered a drink, goes in, and...
    Paperback
    $3000
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • New Release
    26 Beauties
    The twenty-sixth thrilling novel in the globally bestselling Women's Murder Club series. Beautiful young women are disappearing by the dozen. A celebration is cut short when a concerned father crashes Detective Inspector Lindsay Boxer's party. His daughter is missing - and she's not the only one. DI Lindsay Boxer has been tracking a chilling pattern: a Jane Doe washed ashore,...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • New Release
    The Secrets We Hide
    The stunning new North Falls thriller by the bestselling author ofΒ We Are All Guilty Here 'Quite simply, Karin Slaughter is the best of us' Dervla McTiernan Welcome back to North Falls -- a small town with big secrets. The house at 1601 Iris Drive looks like any other in the quiet, residential street. But rumours are rife about the Vickery...
    Paperback
    $3099
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Hope Rises
    'BALDACCI IS STILL PEERLESS' - THE SUNDAY TIMES REVENGE IS A DISH BEST SERVED COLD . . . Walter Nash, working under the alias of Dillon Hope, is on the road to revenge after becoming an informant for the FBI against a global criminal operation headed up by Victoria Steers. Steers has ripped everything Nash held dear away from him....
    Paperback
    $3099
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • New Release
    Slash
    A year after a brutal shootout left her lover dead, ex-police sergeant Honey Chalmers is a hot mess, drinking too much and eating too little, working casual gigs for a shady firm of private investigators β€” while holding conversations with a ghost. A desperate father asks her to investigate his missing son β€” a double-murder suspect last seen during the...
    Paperback
    $3200
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • New Release
    A River Red With Blood
    The players call it the Game, and its aim is simple: to abduct and kill a stranger without getting caught. They're very good at it. They've been playing it for a long time. And they can keep playing as long as everyone sticks to the rules: No Killing Close to Home and No Killing Outside the Game. But those rules...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The Shadow Step
    The new Detective Miller thriller from bestselling author Mark Billingham, full of tension, wit and incredible twists. The Shadow Step: One taken simultaneously by a pair of dancers facing the same direction, one of them behind and slightly shifted leftwards ('in the shadow') Typically, such a step perfectly demonstrates synchronized elegance. It showcases a couple in near telepathic harmony with...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3799
    Backorder
    Ships mid August
  • New Release
    Some Sort of Justice
    The first time in print for the million-copy-selling crime writer. This time, a cast of good coppers, a wily ex-detective and a shadowy, well-connected operative are brought together by an aristocratic fatality. Only there's no body, no forensicsβ€”and enemies in the highest places. When Caroline Thorpe succeeded in casting doubt on the verdict of the inquest into her brother's death,...
    Paperback
    $3199
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The Ending Writes Itself
    Secrets don't stay secret for long in publishing Six authors. One private island. Seventy-two hours to write the ending that will change their lives. β€˜This is a house of novelists, not murderers. You dream up crimes. You don’t commit them.’ β€˜But a writer has. And so, who better than a writer to catch them?’ World famous author Arthur Fletch is...
    Paperback
    $2800
    Elsewhere:
    $3499
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • New Release
    Neighbourhood Watch
    Neighbourhood Watch is a sharp, stylish thriller with a killer opening hook, a generous dose of dark humour, and a truly distinctive voice. ― Christian White The annual Curlew Street scarecrow competition is back, and the residents of Melbourne’s inner north have never seen an entry like it. Shirt bloody, head and arms slumped over a scarecrow crucifix: Victoria’s most...
    Paperback
    $2999
    Elsewhere:
    $3699
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • For All the Dead Girls
    Tough and gutsy PI Lou Alcott returns with a terrifyingly gritty new case that takes her deep into the dark web. Perfect for fans of Jacqueline Bublitz and Jane Caro. While juggling a missing person case with unexpected ties close to home and saving an innocent woman and her child from a dangerous domestic situation, Lou ends up in the...
    Paperback
    $2899
    Elsewhere:
    $3499
    (1)
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Don’t Let Him In
    Prepare to be hookedβ€”the no. 1 Sunday Times and multi-million-copy bestselling author is back with a brand-new, spine-tingling thriller. He's the perfect man. He says he loves you. You think he might even be made for you. Before long he's moved into your houseβ€”and into your heart. And then he leaves for days at a time. You don't know where...
    Paperback
    $3200
    Elsewhere:
    $3800
    In Stock
    Ships Monday

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 80,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.