Cry, the Beloved Country

“The greatest novel to emerge out of the tragedy of South Africa, and one of the best novels of our time.” — The New Republic

“A beautiful novel…its writing is so fresh, its projection of character so immediate and full, its events so compelling, and its understanding so compassionate that to read the book is to share intimately, even to the point of catharsis, in the grave human experience.” — The New York Times

Among the most famous and important novels in South Africa's history and an immediate international bestseller, Alan Paton's impassioned story about a Black man's country under white man's law is a work of searing beauty.

This deeply moving story follows the Zulu pastor Stephen Kumalo and his son, Absalom, who commits a terrible crime that unexpectedly brings together two fathers—one Black, one white—in a land and a people riven by racial injustice. Set in the years leading up to apartheid, the novel explores the conditions that created it, offering a stark reminder of a painful past; yet, in the words of Nelson Mandela, this story also serves as “a monument to the future.”

Cry, the Beloved Country , was an immediate worldwide bestseller when it was published in 1948 and an Oprah Book Club selection in 2003. Remarkable for its lyricism, unforgettable for character and incident, this book is a classic work of love and hope, courage and endurance, born of the dignity of man.