Cry the Beloved Country

by Alan Paton

This book follows the journey of a reverend called Stephen Kumalo going to Johannesburg from a village called Ndotsheni. He goes to Johannesburg to look for his son who went, but never came back, and to help his sister who has fallen ill. When he goes to Johannesburg, he finds out that his sister is a prostitute, and sells alcohol. He persuades her to go back to Ndotsheni with her son. He then starts looking for his son, Absalom. Stephen’s brother helps him. He eventually finds out that his son was staying in a reformatory and that he had gotten a girl pregnant. Stephen’s son is then arrested for killing a white man. He then confesses to killing the man, but says that his cousin helped him. Stephen Kumalo’s brother tries to remove his son from it, even though it would make Absalom stay in jail longer. Absalom ends up getting death penalty. The girl that was pregnant with Absalom’s child made a deal with Stephen Kumalo that she would marry Absalom, and go back to Ndotsheni as Stephen’s daughter in law. When they went back to Ndotsheni, a boy visited Stephen Kumalo while he was on holiday to learn zulu. He tells the boy about problems that the village is facing, and the boy helps them. In the end, Kumalo did not get his family together, but had a hope for the future. He helped Absalom’s wife and his sister’s son to start anew life outside the toxicity of Johannesburg.

Angel Mailu

Rating: 5 Recommend