Rural Botswana is the backdrop for When Rain Clouds Gather, the first novel published by one of Africa's leading woman writers in English, Bessie Head (1937-1986). Inspired by her own traumatic life experiences as an outcast in Apartheid South African society and as a refugee living at the Bamangwato Development Association Farm in Botswana, Head's tough and telling classic work is set in the poverty-stricken village of Golema Mmidi, a haven to exiles. A South African political refugee and an Englishman join forces to revolutionize the villagers' traditional farming methods, but their task is fraught with hazards as the pressures of tradition, opposition from the local chief, and the unrelenting climate threaten to divide and devastate the fragile community. Head's layered, compelling story confronts the complexities of such topics as social and political change, conflict between science and traditional ways, tribalism, the role of traditional African chiefs, religion, race relations, and male female relations. Other titles by Bessie Head available from Waveland Press: The Collector of Treasures and Other Botswana Village Tales (ISBN 9781478607601) and Maru (ISBN 9781478607618). Other titles by African writers from Waveland Press: Ba, So Long a Letter (ISBN 9781577668060) Beti, The Poor Christ of Bomba (ISBN 9781577664185) Emecheta, Kehinde (ISBN 9781577664192) Equiano, Equiano's Travels (ISBN 9781577664871) La Guma, In the Fog of the Seasons' End (ISBN 9781478600251) Marechera, The House of Hunger (ISBN 9781478604730) Mofolo, Chaka (ISBN 9781478607151) Ngugi-Mugo, The Trial of Dedan Kimathi (ISBN 9781478611318) Nwapa, Efuru (ISBN 9781478611011) Oyono, Houseboy (ISBN 9781577669883) Oyono, The Old Man and the Medal (ISBN 9781478609582) p'Bitek, Song of Lawino & Song of Ocol (ISBN 9781478604723) Plaatje, Mhudi (ISBN 9781478609575) Rifaat, Distant Views of a Minaret and Other Short Stories (ISBN 9781478611288) - from Amzon