Valley Song - by Athol Fugard (Paperback)

About the Book

The long-awaited post-Apartheid play by one of the greatest playwrights in South Africa and the world.

Book Synopsis

Valley Song is a tender poem of deep, deep love between two human beings, a story of rebirth, and of miracles at hand. --John Heilpern, New York Observer

Rarely has a playwright been so closely identified with his country and his people as Athol Fugard. Fugard's extensive body of work has served as one of the moral beacons during and after apartheid in South Africa, and in Valley Song--a coming-of-age story about a young girl seeking the courage to embrace the future while her grandfather searches for the wisdom to let go of the past--he applied his great gift to the work of healing and of envisioning the future.

From the Back Cover

Rarely has a playwright been so closely identified with his country and his people as Athol Fugard. Fugard's extensive body of work has served as one of the moral beacons in the bleak world of South Africa, and now, in Valley Song - this coming-of-age story about a young girl seeking the courage to embrace the future while her grandfather searches for the wisdom to let go of the past - he applies his great gift to the work of healing and of envisioning the future.

Review Quotes

Valley Song is a work of art. It sings of a future that comes of large dreams in need of patience and enduring care. It will haunt you.
--Larry S. Ledford, Bergen News

This extraordinary play is what theatre should be.
--Donald Lyons, Wall Street Journal

Valley Song is a vivid, haunting, surreptitiously personal report from the front. It's a complex play, simply and beautifully done.
--Vincent Canby, New York Times

Athol Fugard is a prolific playwright of prophecy and poetry, a grand storyteller who weaves tales of his people and the ever-changing world of South Africa.
--Robert L. Daniels, Variety

Valley Song is a work of art. It sings of a future that comes of large dreams in need of patience and enduring care. It will haunt you.
-Larry S. Ledford, Bergen News

This extraordinary play is what theatre should be.
--Donald Lyons, Wall Street Journal

Valley Song is a vivid, haunting, surreptitiously personal report from the front. It's a complex play, simply and beautifully done.
--Vincent Canby, New York Times

Athol Fugard is a prolific playwright of prophecy and poetry, a grand storyteller who weaves tales of his people and the ever-changing world of South Africa.
--Robert L. Daniels, Variety

About the Author

Athol Fugard (1932-2025) worked in the theater as a playwright, director and actor for more than fifty years. His plays include Blood Knot, Boesman and Lena, "Master Harold"... and the boys, The Road to Mecca, My Children! My Africa!, Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act and Valley Song.