A Question of Power (Penguin Modern Classics)

Literature & Fiction

Bessie Head

Contemporary

Penguin Books, Ltd.

Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: McDougal Littel (October 9, 1996) Language: English ISBN-10: 0395775469 ISBN-13: 978-0395775462

When Rain Clouds Gather: And Related Readings

Teen & Young Adult

Education & Reference

Mcdougal-Littell/Houghton-Mifflin

The Loverscollects Head's short fiction of the 1960s and 70s, written mainly in Serowe, Botswana, and depicting the lives and loves of African village people pre- and post-independence. An earlier selection called Tales of Tenderness and Power was published in the Heinemann African Writers Series in 1990, but this expanded and updated volume adds many previously unavailable stories collected here for the first time. Anthology favourites like her breakthrough 'The Woman from America' and 'The Prisoner who Wore Glasses' are included, leading up to the first complete text of her much translated title story.

Lovers

Literary

Heinemann

In the heart of rural Botswana, the poverty stricken village of Golema Mmidi is a haven to exiles from far and wide.  A South African political refugee and an Englishman join forces to revolutionise the villagers traditional farming methods, but their task is fraught with hazards as the pressures of tradition, opposition from the local chief and the unrelenting climate threaten to divide and devastate the fragile community.

When Rain Clouds Gather (New Windmills)

Heinemann Educ.

The poverty-striken village of Golema Mmidi, in the heart of rural Botswana, is a haven to the exiles gathered there. When a political refugee from South Africa joins forces with an English agricultural expert, the time-honoured subsistence farming is challenged.

WHEN RAIN CLOUDS GATHER

Education & Teaching

Schools & Teaching

Maru (african Writers Series)

Margaret, an orphaned Masarwa girl, comes to Dilepe to teach, only to discover that in this Botswana village her people are treated as outcasts. In the love story and intrigue that follows, the book combines a portrait of loneliness with an affirmation of the mystery and spirituality of life.

Maru,: A novel

Gollancz

Rural Botswana is the backdrop for When Rain Clouds Gather, the first novel published by one of Africa's leading woman writers in English, Bessie Head (1937-1986). Inspired by her own traumatic life experiences as an outcast in Apartheid South African society and as a refugee living at the Bamangwato Development Association Farm in Botswana, Head's tough and telling classic work is set in the poverty-stricken village of Golema Mmidi, a haven to exiles. A South African political refugee and an Englishman join forces to revolutionize the villagers' traditional farming methods, but their task is fraught with hazards as the pressures of tradition, opposition from the local chief, and the unrelenting climate threaten to divide and devastate the fragile community.
 Head's layered, compelling story confronts the complexities of such topics as social and political change, conflict between science and traditional ways, tribalism, the role of traditional African chiefs, religion, race relations, and male female relations.
 Other titles by Bessie Head available from Waveland Press: The Collector of Treasures and Other Botswana Village Tales (ISBN 9781478607601); Maru (ISBN 9781478607618); and A Question of Power (ISBN 9781478634690).
 Other titles by African writers from Waveland Press:
 Amadi, The Concubine (ISBN 9781478634607)
 Andreas, The Purple Violet of Oshaantu (ISBN 9781478634584)
 Ba, So Long a Letter (ISBN 9781577668060)
 Campbell, My Children Have Faces (ISBN 13 9781478635017)
 Kubuitsile, The Scattering (ISBN 9781478634591)
 La Guma, In the Fog of the Seasons' End (ISBN 9781478600251)
 Marechera, The House of Hunger (ISBN 9781478604730)
 Nwapa, Efuru (ISBN 9781478611011)
 p'Bitek, Song of Lawino &amp; Song of Ocol (ISBN 9781478604723)
 Plaatje, Mhudi (ISBN 9781478609575)
 Rifaat, Distant Views of a Minaret and Other Short Stories (ISBN 9781478611288)

When Rain Clouds Gather

Waveland Press. Inc.

"Bessie Head's short stories have an extraordinary simplicity and breadth of vision," heralded a review in The Tribune after publication of Head's first collection of short stories, The Collector of Treasures. Regarded today as one of Africa's best-known woman writers in English, Head draws on the rich oral tradition of southern Africa and masterfully applies storytelling's language and imagery. Carefully sequenced, the anthology gives special focus to village people from independence-era Botswana and the status, position, and plight of African women.
 Table of Contents: 1. The Deep River: A Story of Ancient Tribal Migration 2. Heaven Is Not Closed 3. The Village Saint 4. Jacob: The Story of a Faith-Health Priest 5. Life 6. Witchcraft 7. Looking for a Rain God 8. Kgotla 9. The Wind and a Boy 10. Snapshots of a Wedding 11. The Special One 12. The Collector of Treasures 13. Hunting
 Other titles by Bessie Head available from Waveland Press: Maru (ISBN 9781478607618); A Question of Power (ISBN 9781478634690); and When Rain Clouds Gather (ISBN 9781478607595).
 Other titles by African writers from Waveland Press:
 Amadi, The Concubine (ISBN 9781478634607)
 Andreas, The Purple Violet of Oshaantu (ISBN 9781478634584)
 Ba, So Long a Letter (ISBN 9781577668060)
 Campbell, My Children Have Faces (ISBN 13 9781478635017)
 Kubuitsile, The Scattering (ISBN 9781478634591)
 La Guma, In the Fog of the Seasons' End (ISBN 9781478600251)
 Marechera, The House of Hunger (ISBN 9781478604730)
 Mofolo, Chaka (ISBN 9781478607151)
 Nwapa, Efuru (ISBN 9781478611011)
 p'Bitek, Song of Lawino &amp; Song of Ocol (ISBN 9781478604723)
 Plaatje, Mhudi (ISBN 9781478609575)
 Rifaat, Distant Views of a Minaret and Other Short Stories (ISBN 9781478611288)

The Collector of Treasures and Other Botswana Village Tales

Read worldwide for her wisdom, authenticity, and skillful prose, South African born Bessie Head (1937-1986) offers a moving and magical tale of an orphaned girl, Margaret Cadmore, who goes to teach in a remote village in Botswana where her own people are kept as slaves. Her presence polarizes a community that does not see her people as human, and condemns her to the lonely life of an outcast. In the love story and intrigue that follows Head brilliantly combines a portrait of loneliness with a rich affirmation of the mystery and spirituality of life. The core of this otherworldly, rhapsodic work is a plot about racial injustice and prejudice with a lesson in how traditional intolerance may render whole sections of a society untouchable.
 Other titles by Bessie Head available from Waveland Press: The Collector of Treasures and Other Botswana Village Tales (ISBN 9781478607601);A Question of Power (ISBN 9781478634690); and When Rain Clouds Gather (ISBN 9781478607595).
 Other titles by African writers from Waveland Press:
 Amadi, The Concubine (ISBN 9781478634607)
 Andreas, The Purple Violet of Oshaantu (ISBN 9781478634584)
 Ba, So Long a Letter (ISBN 9781577668060)
 Campbell, My Children Have Faces (ISBN 13 9781478635017)
 Kubuitsile, The Scattering (ISBN 9781478634591)
 La Guma, In the Fog of the Seasons' End (ISBN 9781478600251)
 Marechera, The House of Hunger (ISBN 9781478604730)
 Mofolo, Chaka (ISBN 9781478607151)
 Nwapa, Efuru (ISBN 9781478611011)
 p'Bitek, Song of Lawino &amp; Song of Ocol (ISBN 9781478604723)
 Plaatje, Mhudi (ISBN 9781478609575)
 Rifaat, Distant Views of a Minaret and Other Short Stories (ISBN 9781478611288)

Maru

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Books by Bessie Head