The Angels Weep
1982 novel by Wilbur Smith
The Angels Weep is a 1982 novel, the third in Wilbur Smith's series about the Ballantyne family of Rhodesia. The first part of the book is set immediately before and during the Second Matabele War, then the second part jumps forward to the final days of the Rhodesian Bush War.
Plot
The Angels Weep by Wilbur Smith is the third book in a trilogy that chronicles the generations of the Ballantyne family, and those who most influenced their paths in life. Beginning with Zouga Ballantyne, the family patriarch, this story takes off at a point in his life when he has already lived on the African continent for some time (35–40 years). He has raised two sons who each in their own way follow in his footsteps. Ralph and Zouga travel through Africa together, searching for the city of Zimbabwe to stake and claim the gold Zouga has already seen once there. The Matabele tribe had banned trespass on the sacred ground of the city of the dead, but they had long since been driven from the area as men of greed and power swept through the continent without conscience.
They find and claim Harkness mine and go on to be part of the installation of railways, telegraph lines and pave the way to civilization. However, the Matabele tribe, who have been conquered by British settlers, and remaining natives in Africa have not forgotten their heritage or their pride. They rise up again to battle the white man and his incessant greed, kill Mungo St John as he tries to save Robyn Ballantyne and murder Cathy, the pregnant wife of Ralph Ballantyne; but are driven back once more to the wilderness by Ralph and a group of men that become known as the Ballantyne Scouts in exploits similar to those of Frederick Russell Burnham's assassination of Mlimo.
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The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as 1982 novel by Wilbur Smith. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3772053. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1982.
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This entry incorporates text from “The Angels Weep” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.