Maru
Books | Fiction / Literary
Bessie Head
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.
