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Start giftingCry, the Beloved Country
Narrator
Michael York
This audiobook uses AI narration.
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Length
9 hours 48 minutes
Language
English
A worldwide bestseller when it was first published in 1948, Alan Paton’s impassioned novel about a black man’s country under white man’s law is a work of searing beauty.
Cry, the Beloved Country is the deeply moving story of Stephen Kumalo, a Zulu pastor, and his son, Absalom. Set in the troubled and changing South Africa of the 1940s, it is also the story of a land and a people torn by racial injustice. The book is written with such keen compassion and understanding that the listener shares fully in the gravity of the characters’ situations.
Paton said of his book: “It is a song of love for one’s far distant country.” Thus, it is a tale that is passionately African while also being timeless and universal. Ultimately, Cry, the Beloved Country is a work of love and hope, courage and tragedy, born of the dignity of man.
Alan Paton (1903–1988), South African novelist and humanitarian worker, was born in 1903 in Pietermaritzburg in the province of Natal, South Africa. After attending Pietermaritzburg College and Natal University, he taught school for three years in the rural village of Ixopo, the setting for Cry, the Beloved Country.
Michael York is a successful screen and stage actor. Among his screen credits are Romeo and Juliet, Cabaret, The Three Musketeers, Logan’s Run, and Austin Powers. Stage appearances include Britain’s National Theatre and Broadway. His television work has garnered Emmy nominations and his audio recordings Grammy nominations, as well as five AudioFile Earphones Awards. He has been awarded Britain’s OBE, France’s Arts et Lettres, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
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Reviews
“A beautiful novel, rich, firm, and moving…its writing is so fresh, its projection of character so immediate and full, its events so compelling and its understanding so compassionate that to read the book is to share intimately, even to the point of catharsis, in the grave human experience treated.”
“One of the best novels of our time.”
“The marvelous British actor Michael York brings the white South Africans, with their idealism, their prejudices, and their own provinciality, vividly to life. His native African characters, perhaps inevitably, sound more Anglo than tribal, but it makes small difference. With the haunting, incantatory rhythms of its language and the human complexity of its story, this is a polished, elegant production of a true classic.”
“This great classic…still remains relevant today for providing understanding of how the mining business destroyed native families and the African tribal system—resulting in urban migration, poverty and crime still with us today. Despite many heartbreaking events, the story ends on a hopeful note. Actor York creates fully voiced characters—young, old, male and female—that enhance this important work and make it a spellbinding tale.”
“With a deep yet gentle voice rounded out by his English accent, Michael York captures the tone and energy of this novel. His rhythmic narration proves hypnotizing. From the fierce love of Kumalo to the persuasive rhetoric of Kumalo’s brother and the solemn regret of Absalom, York injects soul into characters tempered by their socioeconomic status as black South Africans.”
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