Escaping South Africa and his troubled past, Makehaya crosses the border to Botswana, in the hope of leading a peaceful and purposeful life. In the village of Golema Mmidi, he meets Gilbert, a charismatic Englishman who is trying to modernise farming methods to benefit the community.
The two outsiders join forces, but their task is fraught with hazards: opposition from the corrupt chief, the pressures of tradition and the unrelenting climate ever threaten to bring tragedy.
Maru: Margaret, an orphan from a despised tribe, has lived her life under the loving protection of a missionary’s wife. She has only to open her mouth to cause confusion, for her education and English accent do not fit her looks. When she accepts her first teaching post, in a remote village, Margaret is befriended by Dikeledi, sister of Maru the chief-in-waiting. Despite making influential friends, Margaret faces prejudice even from the children she teaches, and her presence causes Maru and his best friend – also Dikeledi’s lover – to become sworn enemies.
‘When Rain Clouds Gather and Maru are fairy tales about the transformations that love can wreak. And they transform love into a force to be thankful for.’
Helen Oyeyemi
Waiting for the Rains
When I saw that When Rain Clouds Gather (1968) by Bessie Head had been included in ‘The Big Jubilee Read’, seventy books published during the reign of the late Queen Elizabeth, I was gratified;...
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