Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Gavin Bell

Somewhere Over the Rainbow (Author-Signed & Inscribed Abacus Paperback)

A Former Foreign Correspondent's Six-Month Journey Through Post-Apartheid South Africa and the Rainbow Nation

Bibliographic Specifications

• Title: Somewhere Over the Rainbow: Travels in South Africa
• Author: Gavin Bell
• Publisher: Abacus, London
• Publication Date: 2001
• ISBN-13: 9780349112619
• ISBN-10: 0349112614
• Edition Details: Abacus paperback edition, 2001 (first published by Little, Brown and Company in 2000). Reprinted 2002, 2005. Inscribed and signed by the author.
• Binding: Publisher's illustrated glossy card wrappers (Abacus), large softcover (trade paperback) format.
• Physical Format: Large softcover (trade paperback). 304 pages.
• Language: English

Official Condition Report

• The Book: Good (G)
• Exterior / Wraps: The glossy illustrated card wrappers are structurally sound, with clean corners and no tears. The spine shows a slight crease and the cover carries light handling wear. The fore-edge and head of the text block are tanned.
• Interior: The text block edges are toned and yellowed. The title page is clean apart from the author's inscription and a small brown spot. The binding appears sound.
• Provenance: Inscribed and signed by the author on the title page in blue ink: "For Monga, with thanks for the hospitality & friendship. Gavin Bell".
• The Dust Jacket: Not Applicable (As Issued)

Synopsis & Historical Value

Somewhere Over the Rainbow: Travels in South Africa is Gavin Bell's account of a six-month journey around post-apartheid South Africa, beginning and ending in Cape Town. As a foreign correspondent Bell had written almost exclusively about politics. Here he set out to see the sights and to meet the mix of peoples Archbishop Desmond Tutu had christened the Rainbow Nation.

Returning to a country whose final days of apartheid he had covered, Bell asks what became of that ideal. What he finds is a divided yet beautiful and often surprising land. The title takes its cue from Tutu's phrase.

This Abacus paperback edition of 2001 follows the Little, Brown first publication of 2000. It is a readable, first-hand portrait of South Africa in the years after the 1994 transition, and a worthwhile addition to a shelf of Africana travel writing. This copy carries the author's personal inscription.

Author Profile: Gavin Bell

Gavin Bell was born and raised in Glasgow, and has returned to live in his native city. He worked as a foreign correspondent, including for Reuters and The Times.

He won the 1995 Thomas Cook Travel Book Award for In Search of Tusitala, a Pacific travel book on the trail of Robert Louis Stevenson. His other books include The Art of Becoming a Warrior (2015).

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