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A bewitched crossroad: An African saga - Bessie Head
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From 1800 to 1895, the well-known Sebina clan migrated and battled through the storm of history sweeping semi-desert Botswana. A Bewitched Crossroad is the dramatic saga of the clan's conflicts. Here we meet individuals, familiar and not, who are at the crossroads of tribal tradition. From without come the missionaries and the European scramble for gold; from within come the power-lusting sons of chiefs and the unquenchable thirst for learning the written word.
This unforgettable story is seen for the first time through the eyes of a black African, whose portrayal of one tribe's joys and tragedies will reach all.
Sebina is a well-known name in Botswana. The novel is not intended to be an accurate history of the Sebina clan or family but rather that the personality of Sebina was shaped as being representative of what history could have been like then.
Bessie Head was born in 1937 in Pietermaritzburg and was educated mainly in Durban. She first worked as primary school teacher, then as a journalist on the staff of Drum magazine. She left South Africa for Botswana on an exit permit in 1963 and worked as a teacher and gardener in Serowe, where she resided at the time of this publication. She has then published three novels, When Rain Clouds Gather, (1969), Mary (1971), and A Question of Power, (1973). In 1981, she wrote Serowe: Village of the Rainwind, a history which developed out of interviews with the local people; The Collector of Treasures (1977) evolved as a collection of short stories made up of material garnered in her interviews.
Hardcover. Bright orange paper covered boards, white titling on the spine. Some mild foxing to page edges, previous owners name label on front free endpaper, otherwise clean and tidy, binding firm. Text block is clean throughout.
Dust wrapper, slightly faded on the spine, a little rubbed & nicked especially on corners and on spine. Very few marks and little scuffing. A 2cm tear on the back panel spine fold.
Hardcover. Condition: Good to Very Good.
Published by A.D. Donker, (Pty) Ltd; 1984, First Edition.
Jacket Condition: Good
Binding Condition: Very Good
Overall Condition: Good to Very Good
Size: 8vo., 229 mm X 158 mm X 22 mm
ISBN-10: 0868520713
ISBN-13: 9780868520711
An insightful novel.