Why the title "Die, the Beloved Country"

Fifty years ago (1948) Alan Paton wrote a book "Cry, the Beloved Country" about the horrors of apartheid in South Africa. It was an overnight best seller, eventually translated into more than 20 languages and became a set book in schools all over the world. To date it has sold more than 15 million copies and still sells 100,000 copies a year.

The sentiments in the prose which proved so popular have now been embraced with the abandonment of apartheid, with predictable and unpleasant results. So by altering one word of this famous title, the true effects of the change are described.

Death has prevented the author witnessing the achievement of his dreams, but his widow is still alive and has written a letter to the London Times explaining why she is now fleeing the country her husband loved.