Alan Paton Knihy

Ah, But Your Land is Beautiful is set in the 1950s, the time of the Passive Resistance campaign, the Sophiatown removals, the emergence of the South African Liberal Party and the early stages of the Nationalist government in power.

The story follows a young white South African police lieutenant who faces severe repercussions after defying strict racial relationship laws. As he grapples with societal judgment, familial pressure, and his own internal conflicts, he embarks on a challenging journey of self-discovery and resilience in a deeply divided world. The narrative explores themes of love, identity, and the struggle against oppressive societal norms.

Cry, the Beloved Country, the most famous and important novel in South Africa’s history, was an immediate worldwide bestseller in 1948. Alan Paton’s impassioned novel about a black man’s country under white man’s law is a work of searing beauty. Cry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear. Let him not love the earth too deeply. Let him not laugh too gladly when the water runs through his fingers, nor stand too silent when the setting sun makes red the veld with fire. Let him not be too moved when the birds of his land are singing, nor give too much of his heart to a mountain or valley. For fear will rob him of all if he gives too much. The eminent literary critic Lewis Gannett wrote, “We have had many novels from statesmen and reformers, almost all bad; many novels from poets, almost all thin. In Alan Paton’s Cry, the Beloved Country the statesman, the poet and the novelist meet in a unique harmony.” Cry, the Beloved Country is the deeply moving story of the Zulu pastor Stephen Kumalo and his son, Absalom, set against the background of a land and a people riven by racial injustice. Remarkable for its lyricism, unforgettable for character and incident, Cry, the Beloved Country is a classic work of love and hope, courage and endurance, born of the dignity of man.

"Stephen Kumalo, a church minister, receives a letter that changes his life. He must leave his village and travel to the city of Johannesburg, where his sister is ill and his son is lost. He has never been so far from home, and he is worried about what he wil find there - but the situation is much worse than the could have imagined." - back cover.

The collection features ten poignant short stories that explore the deep injustices faced in South Africa. Through a blend of compassion and despair, the distinguished author delivers powerful narratives that reflect the social and political struggles of his homeland, offering both insight and emotional depth.

Short stories set in the South Africa of Alan Paton's "Cry The Beloved Country"Stories:Debbie Go Home; Ha'penny; The Divided House; Life for a Life;Death of a Tsotsi; The Worst Thing of his Life; The Waste Land; A Drink in the Passage; Sponono; The Elephant-Shooter

This widely acclaimed and influential volume is now available in a greatly revised and expanded twenty-fifth anniversary edition that places the monumental religious struggle against South African apartheid into a larger and instructive global setting. De Gruchy's authoritative and newly updated account of Christian complicity with and then resistance to one of the world's most notoriously repressive regimes holds indispensable lessons and "dangerous memories" for all concerned about evil, justice, and racial reconciliation.