The Ballantyne Novels 'original' series are four novels published between 1980 and 1984 by Wilbur Smith. They chronicle the lives of the Ballantyne family, from the 1860s to the 1980s against a background of the history of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Sylvester Stallone bought the rights to The Leopard Hunts in Darkness, but the film itself wasn't made. Three further novels were published between 2005 and 2024 (Triumph of the Sun series), which combine the Ballantyne narrative with that of Smith's other family saga, The Courtney Novels. An eighth novel was published in 2020, which is a prequel to the original series. Source: Wikipedia (en)