recommended read

A friend recommended that I read Too Late the Phalarope this past summer, as I praised Paton's better-known novel, Cry, The Beloved Country, which I had just finished.  Too Late the Phalarope is no less lovely.  Both books are set in South Africa around 1950; both treat the black and white of the human soul.  As I see it, Cry focuses a bit more on the tragedies of the historical apartheid, Too Late on the tragedies of apartheid within one's heart. It is a novel that might touch married persons most, but it speaks to anyone who experiences the great battle between the old man and the new, who knows of pride and penance, fear and forgiveness.  Paton's prose is among the most beautiful that I have ever read.  One of my top books - and authors - of all time.