Botha's Hill Botha's Hill Botha's Hill is a small town outside Hillcrest in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It is the gateway to the Valley of a Thousand Hills. Kearsney College moved to Botha's Hill in 1939. Alan Paton, a famous author who wrote novels such as Cry, the Beloved Country and Too Late the Phalarope moved here and resided here until his death on the 12th of April, 1988. He was aged 85. The village is 37km north-west of Durban, on the old main road to Pietermaritzburg before the N3 highway was built. It was named after a settler, Philip Rudolph Botha, grandfather
Cry, the Beloved Country collection of books on Abraham Lincoln, and the writings of Lincoln are featured several times in the novel. Paton describes Arthur's son as having characteristics similar to his when he was a child, which may allude to the resurrection of Christ. In 1951, the novel was adapted into a motion picture of the same name, directed by Zoltan Korda. Paton wrote the screenplay with John Howard Lawson, who was left out of the original credits because he was blacklisted in Hollywood for refusing to give information to the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Kumalo was played by Canada Lee, Jarvis