The Promise
WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 2021
By Damon Galgut
Harry Hartog's review
The Promise” is a story about the Swarts, an Afrikaner family living on afarm outside of Pretoria, South Africa in the 1980s. The premise centresaround a deathbed promise to a long serving family maid, Salome. Sheis to be given ownership of the house she lives in on the property. Thepromise is witnessed by the youngest Swart, Amor. The plot is a vehicleused to reveal some of the dark and turbulent recent history of S. Africa,an allegory so to speak. Ultimately though, it is a novel about human character. Galgut’s writing style is concise and unsentimental yet utterly beguiling. This is a powerful and worthy novel, a masterpiece perhaps, and well deserving of winning the Booker Prize for 2021. - Bibi, Bookseller
Description
Winner of the Booker Prize 2021 - discover the powerful story of a family in crisis.
WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 2021
Discover the Sunday Times bestselling story of a family in crisis.
'A tour de force... A spectacular demonstration of how the novel can make us see and think afresh' Booker Judges, 2021
'A masterpiece - a moving, brilliantly told family epic' Elizabeth Day
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On a farm outside Pretoria, the Swarts are gathering for Ma's funeral. The younger generation, Anton and Amor, detest everything the family stand for - not least their treatment of the Black woman who has worked for them her whole life. Salome was to be given her own house, her own land...yet somehow, that vow is carefully ignored.
As each decade passes, and the family assemble again, one question hovers over them. Can you ever escape the repercussions of a broken promise?
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'Astonishing' Colm T ibin
'Bursting with life' The Times
'So powerful' Clare Chambers
'Utterly compelling' Patrick Gale
'Stunning' Observer
** A BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE SUNDAY TIMES, GUARDIAN, OBSERVER, DAILY TELEGRAPH, i AND NEW STATESMAN **
- ISBN:
- 9781529113877
- Format:
- Paperback
- Pages:
- 304
- Published:
- Publisher:
- Vintage Publishing
- Imprint:
- Vintage
- Weight:
- 222 g