A Cleft of Stars

The plane was really near now. But as I flung myself over the wall I saw Rankin kneeling, rifle to shoulder. The range was down to point-blank; there was nothing I could do.

The plane's engine drowned the sound of the shot, but I knew Rankin had fired-and hit his target.

"Rankin You bloody murdering bastard "

But my words were swamped by a tearing crash as the plane hit the side of the mountain...

"His story-telling has a drive that is compulsive."
Scotsman

Geoffrey Jenkins was born in 1920 in Port Elizabeth, South Africa and educated in the old Transvaal, where he wrote his first book-a legal history-at the age of seventeen. After leaving school he worked as a sub-editor in Zimbabwe, later becoming a newspaperman in both Britain and South Africa. He combined a most successful career in journalism with a life-long interest in the sea, and his knowledge of ships and sailing has provided the background to many of his novels. His first novel, A Twist of Sand, was published in 1959 and immediately became a bestseller; it was later filmed. Eight more most successful novels followed having sold over five million copies in twenty-three different languages. www.geoffrey-jenkins.co.za