The Hero of Currie Road
With the publication in 1948 of his first novel, Cry the Beloved Country, Alan Paton won international acclaim and – with sales of over ten million copies of the book in paperback – could live thereafter by his pen. He wrote four other books and, from his home in Kloof, frequently contributed to the non-racial review Contact and chaired the board of Reality, the monthly journal of liberal opinion. He was leader of the country’s Liberal Party from 1953. He served as principal for 13 years (1935–48) of Diepkloof Reformatory for delinquent African boys, which provides the setting for some of his most memorable of stories.