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Alan Paton was born on January 11, 1903 in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Paton became a science teacher in 1925, the start of a varied career, which ran parallel to his writing. He died in 1988.

Books by Alan Paton

Cry, The Beloved Country

First published in 1948, Cry The Beloved Country stands as the single most important novel in twentieth-century South African literature.

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Ah But Your Land Is Beautiful

Alan Paton's powerful novel is set in the 1950s, time of the Passive Resistance campaign, the Sophiatown removals, the emergence of the South African Liberal Party and the early stages of the Nationalist government in power. In a series of vivid and compelling episodes Paton examines what happens between people when such political events overtake their lives.

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