The release date for the English version of 'The Promise' by
Damon Galgut is Jun 2021. If you enjoy this novel, it is available for buy as a paperback from Barnes & Noble or Indigo, as an ebook on the Amazon Kindle store, or as an audiobook on Audible.
The Promise, the 2021 Booker Prize winner, is the story of a white South African family's downfall and ruin while they live on a farm outside of Pretoria. It's the Swarts getting together for Ma's funeral. Anton and Amor, the younger generation, hate all the family stands for, especially the broken pledge made to the Black woman who has dedicated her entire life to working for them. Salome was promised her own home and land after years of work, but for whatever reason, that promise is kept unmet as each decade goes by.
The narrator's eye moves and blinks, effortlessly slipping between characters and into their dreams while observing them in a deliciously deadly way. Additionally, the novel's title alludes to the lost promise of several families as the nation transitions from its previous, deeply divided culture to its new, purportedly fairer one.
This tale of a weakened family brings home some poignant and incisive emotional realities. Literary fiction at its best: The Promise is self-assured, skillful, and subtly potent.