Head, Bessie. When Rain Clouds Gather. Oxford: Heinemann Education Publishers, 1995.
Reason read: Confessional – For weeks I have been calling this book When Storm Clouds Gather. I have no idea why.
In the most rural part of Botswana, untouched by western agricultural technologies, political refugee, Makhaya, and Englishman Gilbert Balfour try to revolutionize traditional farming methods. For the tribespeople of drought-ridden Golema Mmidi, this change is not always welcome, even if it means the end of entrenched poverty and the threat of starvation. Traditions run deep and when your tribal chief doesn’t approve of the new ways, the battle is more uphill than ever. Set against the backdrop of farming is the subject of love. Despite unrelenting unfavorable climate, the tribespeople of Golema Mmidi are passionate people. Head drew details for When Rain Clouds Gather from her own experiences as a refugee, living at the Bamangwato Development farm. It is hard to tell if the romantic parts are autobiographical as well.
Quotes to quote, “He was a platform speaker who never got down from the platform” (p 58), “It meant that if you loved people you had to allow complete invasion by them of your life, and he wasn’t built to face invasions of any kind” (p 67),”There were too many independent-minded people there, and tragedies of life had liberated them from the environmental control of the tribe” (p 141), and “You have to be loved a bit by the time you die” (p 179).
Author fact: Bessie Head was a biracial South African author and lived as a refugee like her character, Makhaya.
Book trivia: When Rain Clouds Gather was Bessie Head’s first novel.
Nancy said: Pearl said When Rain Clouds Gather is Bessie Head’s best-known novel. She also included what a librarian said about the book.
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the very simple chapter called “Botswana” (p 42).
~*LunaSea*~ 