In conjunction with acquiring the Spanish rights to Alan Paton’s other bestselling classic, Cry, the Beloved Country, Whitaker House is re-releasing Alan Paton’s Instrument of Peace, based on the prayers of St. Francis of Assisi.
“What an honor it is to bring back into print Instrument of Peace by Alan Paton,” commented Christine Whitaker, publisher at Whitaker House. “God works in such mysterious ways. Who knew that, twenty years ago, when I was right out of college, I would spend a month in South Africa and the trip would have a huge influence on my life —seeing the beauty of South Africa despite all of the loss and injustice. I hope this book will be a beacon of light and a call to bring our world together. As Saint Francis said, ‘It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.’”
Author and anti-apartheid activist Alan Paton drew upon the Prayer of Saint Francis to write Instrument of Peace (originally titled Instrument of Thy Peace) while his wife Dorrie lay dying of emphysema. Paton said he wrote this book for those:
- Who wish with all their hearts to be better, purer, less selfish, more useful
- Who do not wish to be cold in love, and who know that being cold in love is perhaps the worst sin of all
- Who wish to keep their faith bright and burning in a dark and faithless world
- Who seek not so much to lean on God as to be the active instrument of His peace
“Sometimes we cannot pray because we are fallen into a melancholy and therefore have for the time lost our hope and our faith and have no one to pray to,” Paton wrote. “I am in unrepayable debt to Francis of Assisi, for when I pray his prayer, or even remember it, my melancholy is dispelled, my self-pity comes to an end, my faith is restored, because of this majestic conception of what the work of a disciple should be.”
As to acquiring the Spanish language rights to Cry, the Beloved Country, Christine regards it, “An absolute privilege, as this book has sold 15 million copies and is a worldwide known classic in literature.” Whitaker Español will release the Spanish edition in 2026.
Instrument of Peace released May 13, 2025.
