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The Promise

WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE

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The Promise

By: Damon Galgut
Narrated by: Peter Noble
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Brought to you by Penguin.

** WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 2021 **

This audiobook includes bonus content of Damon Galgut in conversation with Ted Hodgkinson, Head of Literature and Spoken Word at the Southbank Centre.

There is nothing unusual or remarkable about the Swart family, oh no, they resemble the family from the next farm and the one beyond that, just an ordinary bunch of white South Africans, and if you don't believe it then listen to us speak ...

The many voices of The Promise tell a story in four snapshots, each one centered on a family funeral, each one happening in a different decade. In the background, a different president is in power, and a different spirit hangs over the country, while in the foreground the family fights over what they call their farm, on a worthless piece of land outside Pretoria.

Over large jumps in time, people get older, faces and laws and lives all change, while a brother and sister circle around a promise made long ago, and never kept ...

'Astonishing' Colm Tóibín

'Gorgeous and pleasurable' Tessa Hadley

'The most important book of the last ten years' Edmund White

© Damon Galgut 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

 Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction World Literature Africa
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Critic Reviews

A superb novel; a nuanced, sad, hilarious portrait of a family and a country (PAULA HAWKINS)
This story was so powerful, the writing so strong and supple... What an achievement (CLARE CHAMBERS)
A moving, brilliantly told family epic . . . darkly comic . . . phenomenally good (ELIZABETH DAY)
Layered, clever...with a gripping story (CLAIRE FULLER)
A brilliant book told over four decades and four funerals . . . These are characters dancing on the edge of ruin . . . Intoxicating (ANNA HOPE)
Astonishing . . . about fate and loss, about three siblings and land, a promise made a broken (COLM TOIBIN)
A remarkable tale of four generations of one South African family and of the country itself... No wonder it won the Booker
Vivid and suggestive, moving and often very funny
Outstanding . . . Gripping . . . There is also plenty of unexpected comedy
Brilliant... Rarely have I had such a strong sense, while reading a novel, that I myself was there, in the room with the characters
All stars
Most relevant
I liked the interesting style of writing although I sometimes found it hard to work out whose voice/point of view I was listening to! (I know that was the intention just found it sometimes a bit confusing). I was kind of cross about the ending because he leaves it vague! Why couldn’t he at les give us some certainty at the end. I don’t want Disney but a little bit of final certainty would have been more satisfying!

Like an itch you can’t scratch!

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Well worth winning the Man Booker. Moving, sad, deep, hopeful and poignant. The subtle variations in South African accent that is never over done enhances the story. Thoroughly recommend.

Beautifully written and Brilliantly read

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Brilliantly written, beautifully read. A masterpiece in every sense. How else to describe it? What an experience.

Absolutely brilliant

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A masterpiece. Incredible wriing
brought to life by the faultless narration.
Will listen again .

Superb

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only listened to a couple of chapters
can I swap it please?
unable to finish

couldn't stand the sound of the voice. hated it

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