UNDER A RAGING SKY

1980

From flap of dustjacket:

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Under a Raging Sky is a contemporary saga of Africa -- of a glittering, golden dream that turns into a living nightmare.

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To camp under a raging sky with a wild moon rising -- that is Patrick Sillitoe's dream. An orphaned, raw, young Englishman in search of the untamed Africa of the cinema screen and King Solomon's mines, he finds himself trapped as a menial clerk in a huge company in Salisbury -- his romantic dream of rugged independence abandoned for the love of the beautiful, rich Judith.

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But then he meets the old man. Drunken, wild-looking and raggedly-dressed he plays the Pied Piper to Patrick's dormant dream, fires his imagination with the excitement for the quest for gold . . . and he follows the old man's lead through the wild veld, to the haunted pools of the Ruenya, the River of Gold.

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Through two decades of alternating high living and abject poverty and hardship, through Rhodesia's savage guerrilla war and tragedy, a strange love / hate partnership develops between the two men and holds strong. The hammer blows of fate forge Patrick into a hardened, obsessive gold seeker, yet he is haunted always by his vision of Judith, scared that he will lose her and his self respect forever . . .

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Breathtaking in its pace and shrewd in its characterisation, Under a Raging Sky is a gripping novel of vivid contrasts -- of the harshness and gentleness of Africa, of cruelty and compassion, avarice and generosity -- from the bestselling author of The Wild Geese. 

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