Every second-hand bookstore has a few dusty copies of this 1948 classic, but when it was named Oprah's Book Club selection last September, Scribner reprinted almost a million more.

Set in South Africa in 1946, it tells of the murder of white man by a black man, and the effect on their fathers.

While it's a book of serious political ideas, Paton's prose lifts Cry, The Beloved Country out of the ordinary. He writes in the imperative mood to emulate the rhythms of Zulu syntax. You'll either be wallowing in the sheer beauty of it, or throwing it on the floor in exasperation.