Mhudi, an epic of South African native life a hundred years ago (1930)

Mhudi and Ra-Thaga’s love story sits amid clashes involving Barolong, Boer, and Matebele communities in the 1830s. Plaatje draws on oral tradition and gives the heroine plenty to say and decide. Take this if you want the scale of a historical epic without losing sight of whom its upheavals matter to.