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.