Ah, but Your Land is Beautiful is the third novel of Alan Paton

Alan Paton

Alan Stewart Paton was a South African author and anti-apartheid activist.-Family:Paton was born in Pietermaritzburg, Natal Province , the son of a minor civil servant. After attending Maritzburg College, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Natal in his hometown, followed...

, the South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

n author who is best known for writing Cry, the Beloved Country

Cry, The Beloved Country

Cry, the Beloved Country is a novel by South African author Alan Paton. It was first published in New York City in 1948 by Charles Scribner's Sons and in London by Jonathan Cape; noted American publisher Bennett Cerf remarked at that year's meeting of the American Booksellers Association that there...

. Ah, but Your Land is Beautiful is an anti-apartheid novel, in a similar vein to Cry, the Beloved Country. It is a fictional reworking of Paton's own years working as a political activist and of the experience he gained working as the president of the South African Liberal Party.

In the foreword, Paton describes how the book contains both real and fictitious characters, but that two of the real characters were still alive at the time of his writing. They were Helen Joseph

Helen Joseph

Helen Joseph , a South African anti-apartheid activist, was born in Easebourne near Midhurst West Sussex, England and graduated from King's College London, in 1927. After working as a teacher in India for three years, Helen came to South Africa in 1931, where she met and married Billie Joseph...

 and Archbishop Trevor Huddleston

Trevor Huddleston

Ernest Urban Trevor Huddleston CR, KCMG was an English Anglican bishop. He was most well known for his anti-apartheid activism and his 'Prayer for Africa'...

, both of whom gave permission for Paton to introduce them, without sight of the text. Other real characters, who were dead at the of publication, were Albert Lutuli

Albert Lutuli

Albert John Lutuli , also known by his Zulu name Mvumbi, was a South African teacher and politician. Lutuli was elected president of the African National Congress , at the time an umbrella organisation that led opposition to the white minority government in South Africa...

, Dr. Monty Naicker

Monty Naicker

Gagathura Mohambry Naicker was a medical doctor and a South African anti-apartheid activist of Indian Tamil descent.-Early Life:His father was a trader, exporting bananas....

, Patrick Duncan

Patrick Duncan (anti-apartheid activist)

Patrick Baker Duncan was a political thinker and activist, whose three books promoted human rights in South Africa and expressed concern regarding the relationship of humans with the Earth...

, Advocate Donald Barkly Molteno

Donald Barkly Molteno

Donald Barkly Molteno , known as Dilizintaba , was a South African parliamentarian, constitutional lawyer, champion of civil rights and a prominent opponent of Apartheid....

 and Archbishop Geoffrey Clayton

Geoffrey Hare Clayton

The Most Rev Geoffrey Hare Clayton, DD was an eminent Anglican Priest in the mid Twentieth century.He was born on 12 December 1884, educated at Rugby and Pembroke College, Cambridge and ordained, after a period of study at Ripon College Cuddesdon, in 1909. A Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge, he was...

. He also describes the novel as set in the years 1952 to 1958.

Plot summary

The novel has multiple storylines that alternate one another, all reminiscent of the true-life experiences faced by Alan Paton and his political colleagues in resisting National Party

National Party (South Africa)

The National Party is a former political party in South Africa. Founded in 1914, it was the governing party of the country from 4 June 1948 until 9 May 1994. Members of the National Party were sometimes known as Nationalists or Nats. Its policies included apartheid, the establishment of a...

rule in South Africa during the 1950s.

The book is divided into six parts:

Part One: The Defiance Campaign

Part Two: The Cleft Stick

Part Three: Come Back, Africa

Part Four: Death of a Traitor

Part Five: The Holy Church of Zion

Part Six: Into the Golden Age

It was originally conceived as the first part of a trilogy.