Smith attracted attention with his debut When Hunting a Lion in 1964. He claimed to be inspired by his own ways in his books. Before writing, he also conducted detailed historical searches.
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His greatest success was the Courtney saga, which numbered 13 books and described the fate of one family from the beginning of European colonization to Africa to the period of racial segregation (apartheid) in South Africa.
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Smith was born in 1933 in present-day Zambia to British parents and identified himself as an Anglo-African. He studied in South Africa. He spent most of his life in South Africa and London. According to BBC News, his life was in some ways similar to the stories of the main characters in his novels. Smith was an avid hunter, diver, and had a pilot’s license.
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In 2017, the tabloid Daily Mail described his books as “a politically incorrect belief in sex, violence, contempt for women and hunting big beasts.”
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