The Power of One is a novel by Australian author Bryce Courtenay, first published in 1989. Set in South Africa during the 1930s and 1940s, it tells the story of an English boy who, through the course of the story, acquires the nickname of Peekay. (In the movie version, the protagonist's given name is Peter Phillip Kenneth Keith, but not in the book. The author identifies "Peekay" as a reference to his earlier nickname "Pisskop": Afrikaans for "Pisshead.")