Mary Benson (campaigner) Mary Benson (campaigner) Mary Benson (8 December 1919 – 19 June 2000) was a South African civil rights campaigner and author. Born in 1919 in Pretoria, Benson served in the South African Women's Army during World War II. After the war, she was secretary to film director David Lean. Benson became acquainted with the author Alan Paton, and read his novel "Cry, the beloved country" (1948), whose main theme was racial discrimination in South Africa. This affected her greatly, and she became a campaigner for the rights of black people there. She worked with Michael Scott (who, in 1946, was
Cry of the Peacock (novel) Cry of the Peacock (novel) Cry of the Peacock is the first novel from Gina B. Nahai and follows the story of a family of Jews through seven generations, from 1780s Persia to contemporary Iran. The book was published in 1991 by Crown Publishing Group in the United States and won several awards. It was an alternate selection of The Book of the Month Club and The Doubleday Book Club. Peacock, a 116-year-old woman, is captured by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard. Her story and that of a relatively unknown group of Jews, the oldest in the diaspora, unfolds as she