The Van Der Byl Diamond Company has been ruled to the death by its founder, Jacob who has bequeathed the invaluable business to his son Benedict, his daughter Tracey, and unexpectedly to Johnny, his estranged foster child and his most bitter rival in diamond hunting. But the inheritance does not come from paternal love, but from inconsolable hatred. But as Tracey and a long lost love enter the fray, what unfolds under the desert sun is a violent life...

Into the wilds of Natal in the 1870s are born Sean and Garrick Courtney, twin brothers who could not be more different. Fate, war and the jealous schemes of a woman are to drive them even further apart. But as history unfolds, a continent is awakening. And on the horizon is promise.

The next generaton of Courteys are out to stake their claim in Southern Africa. The other Europenas, crazed by greed, jealousy, and lust are determined to destroy utterly all members of the Courtney clan. This quest for vengenace results in a desperate chase that is one of the most extraordinary in modern literature.

Isabella Courtney Falls in love with a terrorist, has his child, betrags her country and family. The child's father eventually kidnaps the boy and Isabella's real terror begins.

In the dangerous, diamond-rich African countryside, where only the strongest and the luckiest survive, a powerful family forges its destiny. Zouga Ballantyne, whose thirst for wealth leads him to risk a fortune in the ultimate gamble. His sons, Ralph and Jordan, who seek to tame the wild continent in their own ways. And Robyn Ballantyne, the beautiful healer, forced to save the life of the man she both hates and loves in the unmerciful war for dominance...

With his headstrong daughter Saffron pursuing her education in London at Oxford, Leon Courtney navigates the politics of colonial Kenya.