Novel
When Rain Clouds Gather
Bessie Head · 1968
Synopsis
Fleeing the persecutions of apartheid South Africa, Makhaya crosses into Botswana and finds refuge in Golema Mmidi, a village in the east of the country where drought and divisions between clans prevail. There he becomes friends with Gilbert, an Englishman who is trying to modernise agriculture and introduce new methods. The two men dream of building a more just community together, but the village chief opposes their undertaking.
Context
The novel comes from the author's stay on a cooperative development farm, at Radisele; Bessie Head finished it in 1967. It appeared in London from Victor Gollancz, then from Heinemann in 1972, and opened a body of work almost entirely set in Botswana, which was followed by Maru and A Question of Power. Christian Surber translated it for the éditions Zoé in 1998. Her papers are kept at the Khama III museum in Serowe, where she lived until her death.
Who it is for
A novel in English, easy to read, about exile, the land and the life of a village in Botswana; it exists in French.
Prizes and reception
David Bargueño reads hope and despair in it, and Gerd Bayer sees in it a foreshadowing of postcolonial ecological thought.