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Maru

Bessie Head

198896 pagesabout 1–2 hours
1988
first published
  • 1971McCall Pub. Co. · 127 pages · ENGISBN 9780841501171
  • 1971Gollancz · 127 pages · ENGISBN 9780575005426
  • 1972Heinemann Educational · 127 pages · ENGISBN 9780435901011
  • 1985Zimbabwe Pub. House · 127 pages · ENGISBN 9780949932990
  • 1987Heinemann Educational · 127 pages · ENGISBN 9780435907198
  • 1995Heinemann · 127 pages · ENGISBN 9780435909635
  • 2014Waveland Press · 96 pages · ENGISBN 9781478607618
  • 1988Heinemann (Txt) · 128 pages · ENGISBN 9780435907181

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.

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