Behold the Earth Mourns by Ansuyah Singh is a beautiful and heart-wrenching first novel written by a South African Indian. Published in 1960, it is an anti-apartheid narrative documenting the indentured labour system and how socioeconomics and politics were intwined with the country’s racist policies. This copy was inscribed by Singh.

Singh was a medical doctor, born in 1917 and educated in Durban, South Africa and later in Edinburgh, Scotland. Her primary career was medicine, she established and managed medical clinics for women for several decades. Singh also lectured widely on issues related to the clinics including family planning and the role of women in the Indian community. After Behold the Earth Mourns Singh published three plays and a collection of poems Summer moonbeams on the lake.

Cape Town: Cape Times, 1960. 204 pages. 19.5 x 13 x 3. Hardback. Inscribed by author. Very good book in very good dust jacket.