The Story of an African Farm was first published in 1883, under the pseudonym Ralph Iron. Only later did it transpire that the author was actually a woman - Olive Schreiner.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

The Story of an African Farm (1883) is a novel by South African political activist and writer Olive Schreiner. Her first published novel, The Story of an African Farm was a bestseller upon its release despite being criticized for its portrayal of controversial social, religious, and political themes. Part Bildungsroman, part philosophical fiction, the novel is recognized as a groundbreaking work for its exploration of feminism, atheism, and the influence of British imperialism on the peoples of South Africa. Split into three sections, the novel begins with the childhood of its three main characters. Waldo, the son of the German farm-keeper Otto, is an intelligent and introspective boy who struggles with his religious faith and attempts to understand himself in relation to the order of the universe. Lyndall is a deeply philosophical thinker who strives toward independence and resists the gender norms imposed upon her by adults and others who would try to control her. Em, Lyndall's cousin, is a friendly girl who tends to believe others without questioning authority or intention. When an English businessman named Bonaparte Blenkins arrives at the farm looking for work, the children begin to suffer under his cruelly selective verbal and psychological abuse. As Blenkins attempts to position himself for control of Tant Sannie's farm, the children gain an informal education in treachery and the dynamics of power, disrupting their seemingly idyllic life in rural South Africa. The novel follows Waldo, Lyndall, and Em into adulthood, tracing their lives through their changing opinions towards romance, faith, and gender while illuminating the love that binds them despite their differences. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Olive Schreiner's The Story of an African Farm is a classic of South African literature reimagined for modern readers.

Alan Paton said of the story that it remains an essential part of South African literature. At times satirical and at times a realist depiction of Rhodes and his Rhodesian policies, it was the work Schreiner wished to be remembered for. The novel is her most overtly political and attempted to debunk the widely-held image of Rhodes as the 'good imperialist' who cared for the natives' well-being."--Back cover

The Story of an African Farm (1883) is a novel by South African political activist and writer Olive Schreiner. Her first published novel, The Story of an African Farm was a bestseller upon its release despite being criticized for its portrayal of controversial social, religious, and political themes. Part Bildungsroman, part philosophical fiction, the novel is recognized as a groundbreaking work for its exploration of feminism, atheism, and the influence of British imperialism on the peoples of South Africa. Split into three sections, the novel begins with the childhood of its three main characters. Waldo, the son of the German farm-keeper Otto, is an intelligent and introspective boy who struggles with his religious faith and attempts to understand himself in relation to the order of the universe. Lyndall is a deeply philosophical thinker who strives toward independence and resists the gender norms imposed upon her by adults and others who would try to control her. Em, Lyndall's cousin, is a friendly girl who tends to believe others without questioning authority or intention. When an English businessman named Bonaparte Blenkins arrives at the farm looking for work, the children begin to suffer under his cruelly selective verbal and psychological abuse. As Blenkins attempts to position himself for control of Tant Sannie's farm, the children gain an informal education in treachery and the dynamics of power, disrupting their seemingly idyllic life in rural South Africa. The novel follows Waldo, Lyndall, and Em into adulthood, tracing their lives through their changing opinions towards romance, faith, and gender while illuminating the love that binds them despite their differences. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Olive Schreiner's The Story of an African Farm is a classic of South African literature reimagined for modern readers.

Olive Schreiner (1855 1920), South African author and feminist, and friend of Havelock Ellis and Eleanor Marx, was one of the most important and challenging social commentators of her time. The ninth of twelve children, she lacked formal education and was taught by her mother. It was her 1883 novel Story of an African Farm that secured her reputation as an author and feminist, which her activities in England (1881 9) further consolidated. First published in 1911, this acclaimed feminist work, one of the most influential of the early twentieth century, established Schreiner's place in the Women's Movement. A reworking of an earlier manuscript destroyed during looting of her Johannesburg home by British soldiers, it considers how the role and position of women has been determined by the artificial constrictions of society. Schreiner ends the work with her vision of true equality between man and woman. This is the 1914 printing.

This is a trilogy of Olive Schreiner's farm novels, Undine, The Story of an African Farm and From Man to Man.

The author was pitch-forked into prominence by the publication in 1883 of The Story of an African Farm, originally published under the pseudonym 'Ralph Iron'. The other two novels were published posthumously. Undine was in fact completed before The Story of an African Farm, and many consider From Man to Man, the book she cherished most, to be her best novel.

Karoo Moon is classic Africana by South Africa's first internationally recognised author; and each of the novels has strongly autobiographical elements, helping the reader to understand a remarkable woman who went on to become an outspoken anti-colonial, pro-Boer campaigner during the Anglo-Boer War, South Africa's first feminist, and a prescient supporter of her disfranchised fellow citizens.

Among the numerous plaudits bestowed on this pioneer novel is that of Es'kia Mphahlele in 1960, when he found the issues Schreiner raised in it 'too generous to fit into the South African pattern of values', while Doris Lessing in her 1968 afterword considered it to be 'one of those few rare books, on a frontier of the human mind'. As Dan Jacobson remarked in his 1971 introduction: 'Nothing can take from her the honour of being the first to make usable the country and the people within it as a subject for fiction.'