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The Promise

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The Promise

Written by: Damon Galgut
Narrated by: Peter Noble
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About this listen

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....

©2021 Damon Galgut (P)2021 Penguin Audio Genre Fiction Historical Literary Fiction World Literature

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)
All stars
Most relevant
i wish to finish the book., .....a better narration could help. narration sounds forceful, not spontaneous

story might be good...but I left half the way.

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