Rage (Wilbur Smith novel)

First edition (UK)
Author	Wilbur Smith
Country	South Africa
Language	English
Series	The Courtney Novels
Publisher	Heinemann (UK) Little, Brown (US) Stoddart (Canada)
Publication date	1987
Preceded by	Power of the Sword
Followed by	A Time to Die

Rage is a 1987 novel by Wilbur Smith set in the Union of South Africa, immediately following World War II. It starts in 1952 and goes until the late 1960s, touching on the country's declaration of a republic and the subsequent Sharpeville Massacre. The plot centers around Shasa Courtney and black resistance leader Moses Gama.

Smith described it at the time as "the most onerous book I have ever written... and also the biggest book" because of its subject matter.

Shasa Courtney, now a member of the ailing United Party, is offered a position within the dominant National Party, complete with ministerial rank, by his half-brother Manfred De La Ray. Having grown doubtful of the United Party's prospects, Shasa accepts, with the hope that he can provide moderation within the National Party; while he does not support black rights, he views the National Party's policy of apartheid as little more than an excuse for the Afrikaner population to hoard South Africa's resources for themselves, despite the risk of provoking the black population. He later begins an affair with Kitty Godolphin, a news producer covering the civil rights struggle in South Africa.

Unbeknowest to Shasa, his wife Tara begins an affair with Moses Gama, now a prominent political activist alongside Nelson Mandela and others. Moses continues to fight for black rights, while his brother Hendrick ends his involvement with the movement, fearing that his vast wealth would be lost in the struggle, leading his son Raleigh to take up the fight in his stead. Tara continues working for Moses and bears his child - a mixed race boy named Benjamin Afrika. Moses later marries a Zulu woman in order to secure the tribe's allegiance.

Moses eventually gets Tara involved in a plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament of South Africa, in order to kill the entire white government and allow a revolution of Moses's supporters. Shasa, Manfred and their father in law Blaine Malcomess are able to foil the plot, but Blaine is killed in the struggle. Not wanting their children to know what their mother has done, Shasa exiles Tara from South Africa for her part in the plot. Moses is tried for his crimes, and is cleared of high treason on the basis that he owes no loyalty to the government as a result of the apartheid policy, but he is convicted of his other crimes and sentenced to death. Learning from his wife that Mandela and other campaigners will use him as a martyr, Moses betrays them to the government in exchange for his sentence being reduced to life imprisonment.