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. For fear will rob him of all if he gives too much. 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. 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. Alan Paton's impassioned novel about a black man's country under white man's law is a work of searing beauty.Ĭry, the beloved country, for the unborn child that is the inheritor of our fear. The novel was also adapted as a musical called Lost in the Stars (1949), with a book by the American writer Maxwell Anderson and music composed by the German emigre Kurt Weill.An Oprah Book Club selection, Cry, the Beloved Country, the most famous and important novel in South Africa's history, was an immediate worldwide bestseller in 1948. The second in 1995, starring James Earl Jones and Richard Harris.

Two cinema adaptations of the book have been made, the first in 1951, which was directed by Zoltán Korda, starring Canada Lee, Sidney Poitier, and Charles Carson. In Alan Paton's Cry, the Beloved Country the statesman, the poet and the novelist meet in a unique harmony.' 'The greatest novel to emerge out of the tragedy of South Africa, and one of the best novels of our time' (The New Republic). 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. A superior example of an important work, rarely encountered signed. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Laid into this copy is an original bookmark for the screening of the film, held in Pretoria, South Africa. Signed and dated by the author on the front free endpaper in the year of publication, “Alan Paton November 2, 1948.” Fine in a near fine dust jacket with a small closed tear.

$7,500.00 Item Number: 44024įirst edition of Paton’s classic novel.

Cry the beloved country book cover