Winner of the 2021 Booker Prize, acclaimed worldwide, The Promise dissects the wanderings and heartbreak of a family in South Africa over several generations.
1986, on a farm not far from Pretoria. The Swart family is saying goodbye to the matriarch, Rachel. All her relatives are there: Herman, her husband; Anton, Astrid and Amor, the couple’s children; but also Salome, their Black servant. The solemnity of the mourning does not make illusion, and the conversations let guess an uneasiness, even an anger. Rachel has promised to thank Salome by bequeathing to her the outbuilding in which she lives. This promise divides the clan. It will never be kept.
Damon Galgut’s new novel follows the Swarts over three decades, from 1986 to 2018. While South Africa is undergoing a profound transformation, racism and violence still permeate everywhere, even in the intimate lives of individuals.
Written in virtuoso language (remarkably translated in French by Hélène Papot), Damon Galgut’s new novel has received critical acclaim around the world.
