Cry, The Beloved Country
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Good
Markings: Previous owner
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
A searing portrait of a fractured nation on the precipice of profound moral reckoning, Cry, The Beloved Country chronicles the devastating journey of Stephen Kumalo, a humble Zulu pastor who travels from his rural village of Ndotsheni to the teeming, broken streets of Johannesburg in search of his wayward son, Absalom. Set against the stark backdrop of 1940s South Africa — a society already groaning under the weight of racial segregation years before apartheid was formally codified — Alan Paton's masterwork confronts the reader with heartbreaking consequences of a land torn apart by fear, inequality, and the cruel geometry of systemic injustice. When Absalom is convicted of murdering a white man, the novel's tragedy deepens into something universal, binding Kumalo's grief to that of the victim's father in a quietly radical act of shared humanity. Published in 1948, Cry, The Beloved Country stands as one of the most significant works of 20th-century literature, its lyrical, almost biblical prose style drawing as much from the cadences of the King James Bible as from the red earth of KwaZulu-Natal. Paton writes with the precision of a man who witnessed injustice firsthand — having served as principal of a reformatory for young offenders — and his prose carries the moral authority of lived experience rather than mere observation. The novel argues, with quiet ferocity, that a society built on the dehumanisation of its own people destroys not only the oppressed but the oppressors themselves. It remains an essential, urgent testament to the redemptive power of compassion in the darkest of times — and a reminder that love of one's country demands the courage to name its sins.
Author: Alan Paton
Format: Paperback
Genre: Modern fiction
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: No dust jacket
Pages: Good
Markings: Previous owner
Condition remarks: Condition as shown in image
A searing portrait of a fractured nation on the precipice of profound moral reckoning, Cry, The Beloved Country chronicles the devastating journey of Stephen Kumalo, a humble Zulu pastor who travels from his rural village of Ndotsheni to the teeming, broken streets of Johannesburg in search of his wayward son, Absalom. Set against the stark backdrop of 1940s South Africa — a society already groaning under the weight of racial segregation years before apartheid was formally codified — Alan Paton's masterwork confronts the reader with heartbreaking consequences of a land torn apart by fear, inequality, and the cruel geometry of systemic injustice. When Absalom is convicted of murdering a white man, the novel's tragedy deepens into something universal, binding Kumalo's grief to that of the victim's father in a quietly radical act of shared humanity. Published in 1948, Cry, The Beloved Country stands as one of the most significant works of 20th-century literature, its lyrical, almost biblical prose style drawing as much from the cadences of the King James Bible as from the red earth of KwaZulu-Natal. Paton writes with the precision of a man who witnessed injustice firsthand — having served as principal of a reformatory for young offenders — and his prose carries the moral authority of lived experience rather than mere observation. The novel argues, with quiet ferocity, that a society built on the dehumanisation of its own people destroys not only the oppressed but the oppressors themselves. It remains an essential, urgent testament to the redemptive power of compassion in the darkest of times — and a reminder that love of one's country demands the courage to name its sins.