Description

Book Synopsis

In his final novel, renowned author Alex La Guma explores the tensions of a South African town fraught with the desire for revenge.

Out in the flat, featureless countryside, a small mining town in South Africa is refused access to water by their oppressors. Knowing that the rain is their last chance for survival, all they can do is wait...

As the dry summer wears on, the white Afrikaner townspeople are unaware of the storm brewing around them as, deep in the bush, a shepherd recalls the riddle of the butcherbird.

Glimpsing into precolonial days and the aftermath of the Boer War, Time of the Butcherbird is a powerful reminder of the communities that were wrecked by conflict and dispossessed of their own land.

''The greatest South African novelist of the 20th century.'' The Times
''A central figure alongside Chinua Achebe [in] the making and consolidation of modern African literature.'' Ngugi wa Thiong'o



Trade Review
The greatest South African novelist of the 20th century. * The Times *
[Alex La Guma] is a central figure alongside Chinua Achebe [in] the making and consolidation of modern African literature. -- Ngugi wa Thiong’o
One of the world's great novelists... a man who was not only a prodigiously talented writer but also a valiant hero of the anti-apartheid struggle. * The Root *

Time of the Butcherbird

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    Order before 4pm today for delivery by Tue 23 Jun 2026.

    A Paperback / softback by Alex La Guma

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      Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
      Publication Date: 01/01/2024
      ISBN13: 9781035900640, 978-1035900640
      ISBN10: 1035900645

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      In his final novel, renowned author Alex La Guma explores the tensions of a South African town fraught with the desire for revenge.

      Out in the flat, featureless countryside, a small mining town in South Africa is refused access to water by their oppressors. Knowing that the rain is their last chance for survival, all they can do is wait...

      As the dry summer wears on, the white Afrikaner townspeople are unaware of the storm brewing around them as, deep in the bush, a shepherd recalls the riddle of the butcherbird.

      Glimpsing into precolonial days and the aftermath of the Boer War, Time of the Butcherbird is a powerful reminder of the communities that were wrecked by conflict and dispossessed of their own land.

      ''The greatest South African novelist of the 20th century.'' The Times
      ''A central figure alongside Chinua Achebe [in] the making and consolidation of modern African literature.'' Ngugi wa Thiong'o



      Trade Review
      The greatest South African novelist of the 20th century. * The Times *
      [Alex La Guma] is a central figure alongside Chinua Achebe [in] the making and consolidation of modern African literature. -- Ngugi wa Thiong’o
      One of the world's great novelists... a man who was not only a prodigiously talented writer but also a valiant hero of the anti-apartheid struggle. * The Root *

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