King of Kings

Book excerpt: BOOK 6 IN THE BALLANTYNE SERIES, BY INTERNATIONAL SENSATION WILBUR SMITH 'Best historical novelist' - Stephen King 'A master storyteller' - Sunday Times 'Wilbur Smith is one of those benchmarks against whom others are compared' - The Times 'No one does adventure quite like Smith' - Daily Mirror DIVIDED BY WAR. UNITED BY LOVE. On a beautiful September day, General Penrod Ballantyne and his fiancée, the successful travel writer, Amber Benbrook, stroll hand in hand through the busy streets of Cairo. 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 mission to establish a silver mine, they make the dangerous journey to the new capital of Addis Ababa, where they are welcomed by King Menelik II, the King of Kings. He knows of a plot to invade his beloved Abyssinia, and he needs the Courtneys to help him win. Back in Cairo, a heartbroken Penrod seeks oblivion in Lady Agatha and the city's opium dens, descending into ruin. He is rescued from himself by an old friend, who is now in the Italian army, and offered the chance restore his honour and to join the military efforts. Italy has designs on Abyssinia, and there are rumours of a plan to invade . . . With storm clouds gathering, and on opposing sides of the conflict, can Penrod and Amber find their way back to one another - against all the odds? An epic historical adventure of love, betrayal, courage and war. King of Kings brings together two of Wilbur Smith's greatest families, the Courtneys and the Ballantynes in this sequel to his worldwide bestseller, The Triumph of the Sun (Sunday Times, Jul 2018). The sixth book in the epic Ballantyne Series and the second title in an exciting crossover sequence between Wilbur Smith's two iconic family sagas, the Ballantynes and the Courtneys. The adventures of the Ballantynes and Courtney's continue in Book 7 of the Ballantyne series, Fire on the Horizon, coming soon. Available to pre-order now.