Бесси Хед

The weather was terribly hot. Hot winds blew and the air was full of red dust. But everyone knew that the hottest weather came before the rain. In September the rain clouds would gather. But September came and there were no rain clouds in the sky. At the cattle posts, far out in the bush, the wells began to dry up and the cattle began to die... Retold by Margaret Tarner.

An orphaned Masarwa girl comes to Dilepe to teach, only to discover that in this remote Botswana village her people are treated as outcasts. In the love story and intrigue that follow, the author's exploration of racism draws upon her own experiences of growing up in South Africa.

The poverty-stricken village of Golema Mmidi, in the heart of rural Botswana, offers a haven to the exiles gathered there. Makhaya, a political refugee from South Africa, becomes involved with an English agricultural expert and the villagers as they struggle to upgrade their traditional farming methods with modern techniques. The pressures of tradition, the opposition of the local chief, and, abov...