Wilbur Smith is a bit of an arseh**e isn't he?

[Alfieisnoisy]

Never read any of his books and now I never want t either.

Gave an interview recently where he talked about being estranged from his children.

They are the losers as they won't be getting any of his money apparently but in any case he doesn't consider them his children...,just some people who have his sperm.

What an utter wanker. His children are better off without him in their lives....what an odious man.

www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2015/dec/14/wilbur-smith-a-writers-memorable-quotes-you-may-want-to-forget

[WhoTheFuckIsSimon]

He sounds awful. I think when all your kids are non contact with you it says something about the parent rather than the kids.

[WhoTheFuckIsSimon]

And one of his kids is a multi millionaire business man so I'm guessing he's not losing sleep over being cut out the will.

[ArmchairTraveller]

I've read a lot of his books because I was trapped in a place with nothing else to read but Manly Fiction where men are men and women are grateful.
Very 1950s attitude.
Yes, he came across as a deply unpleasant person in a recent interview in the Times.

[Alfieisnoisy]

Can't think of having read anything in an interview with someone well known which has left me feeling more disgusted. Glad to hear that one of his kids is a multi millionaire.

[ArmchairTraveller]

A Town Like Alice is by Nevil Shute.
Wilbur Smith writes South African adventures,

[Alfieisnoisy]

I loved A Town Like Alice....and yes very much a product of its time. But Neville Shute was born in a very different time and era to Wilbur Smith. As far as I know he didn't behave like a Wilbur Snith.

[Hygge]

I imagine his children have values that go beyond his money, and good for them.

And if he feels that they are losing out because he has cash, rather than because he's a person who would enrich their lives in ways that don't require money, he's a very stunted little man.

You can't buy people's love. If you treat them badly, and they have an ounce of self respect, they will eventually walk away.

[BarbarianMum]

I've read a lot of his books (whilst also stuck somewhere not prison with limited reading material) and it doesn't surprise me at all. He writes like someone stuck in the 1950s - misogyny heavily seasoned with racism.

[UsedtobeFeckless]

His books are an utter tosh-fest so I'm not surprised he's a git in real life, too ...