Cry, the Beloved Country

by Alan Paton

Hardcover, 320 pages

English language

Published Dec. 2, 2003 by Scribner.

ISBN:: 978-0-7432-6195-1
OCLC Number:: 53895535

(11 reviews)

This book is the most famous and important novel in South Africa's history, and an immediate worldwide bestseller when it was published in 1948.

Alan Paton's impassioned novel about a black man's country under white man's law is a work of searing beauty. 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 …

This book is the most famous and important novel in South Africa's history, and an immediate worldwide bestseller when it was published in 1948.

31 editions

Jamie reviewed Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton

Review of 'Cry, the Beloved Country' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I've been generous with ratings this year, it seems. Lit is just hitting me really hard lately, right where I keep my feelings! Paton writes beautifully and compassionately in a floral and formal style - sometimes expecting it to be sung. It's occasionally so artful that I can see folks being turned off by it. For Paton, the lyricism seems to come from a place of love and pain for his country, though. Probably okay to wax poetic from time to time if you have a good reason.