The Karoo is one of the world's oldest and greatest deserts. To the casual traveller it is an arid desolation, without life and without charm. To those who know it, it is a land of secret beauty and infinite variety, fierce sometimes, hostile sometimes, but exercising a fascination that makes the rest of the world seem strangely tame. For six generations, Eve Palmer's family have lived there, on the farm Cranemere, situated on the plains of Camdeboo. They have battled constantly against the desert, adapted to it, leaned each in turn to love, fear and respect it. First published in 1966, The Plains of Camdeboo has become of a classic of South African literature. This book is an autobiography, a history, a botanical treatise, all blended into a uniquely vivid and personal account of life in the Karoo. The animals, the insects, the innumerable flowers that spring miraculously to life after the rain, the fantastic wealth of fossils and relics of early man - all are woven into this rich and absorbing work.