When Rain Clouds Gather

When Rain Clouds Gather
Author: Bessie Head
Publisher: Waveland Press
Total Pages: 201
Release: 2013-09-23
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1478611677

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.

A Study Guide for Bessie Head's "When Rain Clouds Gather"

A Study Guide for Bessie Head's
Author: Gale, Cengage Learning
Publisher: Gale Cengage Learning
Total Pages: 36
Release: 2016-07-12
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 141034424X

A Study Guide for Bessie Head's "When Rain Clouds Gather," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Novels for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Novels for Students for all of your research needs.

Maru

Maru
Author: Bessie Head
Publisher: Waveland Press
Total Pages: 113
Release: 2013-09-16
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1478611618

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.

A Question of Power

A Question of Power
Author: Bessie Head
Publisher: Waveland Press
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2017-03-06
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1478635142

In this fast-paced, semi-autobiographical novel, Head exposes the complicated life of Elizabeth, whose reality is intermingled with nightmarish dreams and hallucinations. Like the author, Elizabeth was conceived out-of-wedlock; her mother was white and her father black—a union outlawed in apartheid South Africa. Elizabeth eventually leaves with her young son to live in Botswana, a country less oppressed by colonial domination, where she finds stability for herself and her son by working on an experimental farm. As readers grow to know Elizabeth, they experience the inner chaos that threatens her stability, and her constant struggle to emerge from the torment of her dreams. There she is plagued by two men, Sello and Dan, who represent complex notions of politics, sex, religion, individuality, and the blurred line between good and evil. Elizabeth’s troubling but amazing roller-coaster ride ends in an unfettered discovery.

The Collector of Treasures

The Collector of Treasures
Author: Bessie Head
Publisher: Heinemann
Total Pages: 132
Release: 1992
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780435909819

Botswana village tales about subjects such as the breakdown of family life and the position of women in this society.

A Study Guide for Bessie Head's "Life"

A Study Guide for Bessie Head's
Author: Gale, Cengage Learning
Publisher: Gale, Cengage Learning
Total Pages: 27
Release: 2016-07-14
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1410351114

A Study Guide for Bessie Head's "Life," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Short Stories for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Short Stories for Students for all of your research needs.

Exploitation and Misrule in Colonial and Postcolonial Africa

Exploitation and Misrule in Colonial and Postcolonial Africa
Author: Kenneth Kalu
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 307
Release: 2018-10-08
Genre: History
ISBN: 3319964968

This book offers new perspectives on the history of exploitation in Africa by examining postcolonial misrule as a product of colonial exploitation. Political independence has not produced inclusive institutions, economic growth, or social stability for most Africans—it has merely transferred the benefits of exploitation from colonial Europe to a tiny African elite. Contributors investigate representations of colonial and postcolonial exploitation in literature and rhetoric, covering works from African writers such as Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Kwame Nkrumah, and Bessie Head. It then moves to case studies, drawing lines between colonial subjugation and present-day challenges through essays on Mobutu’s Zaire, Nigerian politics, the Italian colonial fascist system, and more. Together, these essays look towards how African states may transform their institutions and rupture lingering colonial legacies.

Adamant

Adamant
Author: Lisa Bevere
Publisher: Baker Books
Total Pages: 223
Release: 2018-04-17
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1493407244

By ancient definition, the adamant was known as both a diamond and a mythical stone of indestructible wonder. In more modern terminology, it describes a posture of unshakeable resolve and determination. If there was ever a time for us to be adamant about love and truth it is now. God is Love. God is Truth. Both love and truth are timeless, transcending our current trends and opinions. Sometimes the most loving thing we will ever do is to speak the truth, but speaking truth begins with living it. Using the mediums of Scripture and story, New York Times bestselling author Lisa Bevere takes readers on a journey into the Mountain of God, to the one place they can learn not only to abide in God's unshakeable truth and love, but become adamant--people who are unmovable, determined, and steadfast. With conviction and passion, Lisa unpacks the concept of the adamant for readers, linking together the grand story of Scripture and God's purpose in their lives. Readers will see that God's plan is revealed as we dwell in him, it is there that we are forged and shaped. As we abide in Christ our Cornerstone we are shaped into the image of the adamant.

A Study Guide for Bessie Head's "The Lovers"

A Study Guide for Bessie Head's
Author: Gale, Cengage Learning
Publisher: Gale, Cengage Learning
Total Pages: 36
Release:
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1410351653

A Study Guide for Bessie Head's "The Lovers," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Short Stories for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Short Stories for Students for all of your research needs.

The Cardinals

The Cardinals
Author: Bessie Head
Publisher: Heinemann
Total Pages: 164
Release: 1995
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780435909673

The Cardinals--thought to be the first long piece of fiction Head produced and the only one she ever set in South Africa--is an exciting literary event.