Reading has always been an important part of my life for as long as I can remember. There is very little I won’t read but when I am given a choice the books on my bedside table usual run to sports biographies, non-fiction tomes about the First World War and the works of Stuart MacBride.

I also have a few books that I read every year. There are some obvious ones in that list: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and the complete works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle I read every year without fail. Added to that list is The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay.

Bryce Courtenay’s passing overnight has given me moment of pause to consider the impact of his writing on me. I need to concede here that I only enjoy reading three of Courtenay’s works: the two books in the “Peekay” series, The Power of One and Tandia, as well as the heart breaking April Fool’s Day. The fact is I have never really gotten into the remainder of his work however those three books are easily in my top ten books of all time.

It is ridiculously rare for a book to effect me emotionally but reading April Fool’s Day and in particular the Courtenay’s description of his son Damon’s death for the first time made me more than a little weepy as well as introspective. Enough said really.

The “Peekay” duo of books are a cracking read when considered apart but when considered together they form a powerful reading experience that takes one through the changing face of colour politics in South Africa at the time of the Second World War and beyond through the eyes of a young boy who becomes a man. Throw in boxing, Oxford, the law, rugby and sex and it is a book that has something for just about everyone.

As I said, I am not a really a fan of the following books from Bryce Courtenay but I will forever be grateful to him for sharing the story of his son Damon and spinning the yarn of Peekay. He will be sadly missed but the characters he created in those books will live on forever for me.