Cry, the Beloved Country

This is a new reading of Alan Paton’s impassioned novel about a black man’s country under white man's law.

Set in the troubled and changing South Africa of the 1940s, Cry, the Beloved Country is the deeply moving story of Stephen Kumalo, a Zulu pastor, and his son, Absalom. Written with keen compassion and understanding, the novel powerfully evokes the experience of a land and a people torn by racial injustice.

Paton said of his book: “It is a song of love for one’s far distant country.” Thus, it is a tale that is passionately African while also being timeless and universal. Remarkable for its lyricism, unforgettable for character and incident, Cry, the Beloved Country is a work of love and hope, of courage and tragedy, born of the dignity of man.