Too Late the Phalarope found in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia. Too Late the Phalarope Too Late the Phalarope is the second novel of Alan Paton, the South African author who is best known for writing "Cry, the Beloved Country". It was published in 1953, and was the last novel he published before "Ah, but Your Land is Beautiful" in 1981. The summary on the dust jacket of the first UK edition reads, in part; 'The setting is again South Africa, but the tragedy this time is of a white man who, for complicated reasons, some of them not unconnected with his childhood
Cry, the Beloved Country as Kumalo travels from place to place, he begins to see the gaping racial and economic divisions that are threatening to split his country. Eventually, Kumalo discovers that his son has spent time in a reformatory and that he has gotten a girl pregnant. Meanwhile, the newspapers announce that Arthur Jarvis, a prominent white crusader for racial justice, has been murdered in his home by a gang of burglars. Kumalo and Msimangu learn that the police are looking for Absalom, and Kumalo's worst suspicions are confirmed when Absalom is arrested for the murder. Absalom confesses to the crime but states