When Rain Clouds Gather
Escaping South Africa and his troubled past, Makehaya crosses the border to Botswana, in the hope of leading a peaceful, 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.

First published in 1916 and one of South Africa’s great political books, Native Life in South Africa was first and foremost a response to the Native’s Land Act of 1913, and was written by one of the most gifted and influential writers and journalists of his generation. Sol T. Plaatje provides an account of the origins of this crucially important piece of legislation and a devastating description of its immediate effects.

Maru is the moving tale of an orphaned Masarwa girl who goes to teach in a remote village in Botswana where her own people are kept as slaves. Her presence polarises a community which does not see Masarwa people as human, and condemns her to the lonely life of an outcast. Bessie Head was one of the best-known writers in Africa, whose works were mostly inspired by her own traumatic life experiences as an outcast in Apartheid South African society. This edition of Maru includes an introduction by Stephen Gray, former Head of English at the University of Johannesburg.