The Courtenays

"He's a great storyteller. If truth is a problem there, well whose truth?" Celeste Coucke, Bryce's daughter-in-law. For the past twenty years, Bryce Courtenay has reigned supreme as Australia's bestselling novelist. It's said that every home has at least one of his books on the shelf; and every year, he writes a novel for Christmas that generates ten million dollars for the Australian publishing industry. This is the story of a man conditioned from childhood to win, and who discovered himself in his imagination. But the journey has come at a cost. For Bryce, a good story always comes first. His work takes precedence over everything. It means there is little time to spare for his family - and even his new bride sees little of him when he's working. And, when he wrote about his own family's tragedy, everyone suffered the consequences. Nothing has stopped him - until now. In 2011, fate dealt Bryce a cruel blow. Ill health has cost him a deadline. For the first time in twenty years, there will be no Bryce Courtenay blockbuster in the bookshops for Christmas, and a man for whom stories are life, faces an uncertain future. This episode of Family Confidential exposes the private side of a man for whom the story means everything.