Damon Galgut

A masterpiece of a family in crisis from twice Booker-shortlisted author Damon Galgut- 'one of the world's great writers' (Edmund White) and 'the bold, fresh voice of South African fiction' (Observer) A masterpiece of a family in crisis from twice Booker-shortlisted author Damon Galgut 'Emotionally powerful and thrilling,' Gabriel Byrne 'A literary masterpiece' Sarah Hall The Promise charts the crash and burn of a white South African family, living 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 the failed promise to the Black woman who has worked for them her whole life. After years of service, Salome was promised her own house, her own land... yet somehow, as each decade passes, that promise remains unfulfilled. The narrator's eye shifts and blinks- moving fluidly between characters, flying into their dreams; deliciously lethal in its observation. And as the country moves from old deep divisions to its new so-called fairer society, the lost promise of more than just one family hovers behind the novel's title. In this story of a diminished family, sharp and tender emotional truths hit home. Confident, deft and quietly powerful, The Promise is literary fiction at its finest. 'Gorgeous and pleasurable' Tessa Hadley 'The most important book of the last ten years' Edmund White 'Simply- you must read it' Claire Messud

The Promise

The most intense and passionate novel to date from Man Booker-shortlisted author Damon Galgut: 'the bold, fresh voice of South African fiction.' - Observer

In a Strange Room

Vaat

De belofte

Los Swart son una familia blanca que vive desde hace generaciones en una granja en las afueras de Pretoria, en Sudáfrica. Tras la muerte de la madre, se reúnen todos para el funeral en la casa familiar. Amor y Anton, dos de sus hijos, rechazan lo que la familia representa y no olvidan la promesa que su padre hizo a su madre poco antes de morir: que Salome, la mujer negra que lleva trabajando toda la vida para ellos y que la cuidó en sus últimos días, podría quedarse con la pequeña casa en la que siempre ha vivido. Pero el tiempo va pasando y la promesa no se cumple.

La narración sigue los pasos de los Swart a lo largo de más de tres décadas; a través de la minuciosa exploración de los miembros de la familia y sus conflictos, Galgut nos habla también de los cambios políticos y sociales del país tras el fin de la segregación racial.

La promesa

The impostor

Uma família, uma promessa e uma chance de contar uma história ímpar. Vencedor do Booker Prize de 2021, A promessa, de Damon Galgut, com tradução de Caetano Galindo, é um drama épico que se desenrola no ritmo implacável da história da África do Sul. Em uma fazenda em Pretoria, na África do Sul, no fim dos 1980, Rachel Swart, em seu leito de morte, pede ao marido que prometa que vai transferir para a empregada Salome a propriedade da casa em que mora. A filha mais nova, Amor, é testemunha de que seu pai garantiu à esposa que cumpriria a promessa. Pretoria, 1995. Nelson Mandela é presidente do país, e a família Swart está reunida mais uma vez, agora para o enterro do patriarca. Amor e seus irmãos são praticamente desconhecidos um para o outro. Assombrados por uma promessa não cumprida, eles acabaram se distanciando após a morte da mãe. À deriva, a vida dos três transcorre pelos caminhos da África do Sul. Anton é um rapaz brilhante, mas se ressente de tudo o que poderia ter conquistado; Astrid tem na beleza seu maior poder; a caçula Amor carrega a culpa por seus familiares não terem honrado com a palavra que a mãe deu a Salome. Ao longo de três décadas e reunida por quatro funerais, a família cada vez menor reflete a atmosfera de seu país – um misto de ressentimento, renovação e, sobretudo, esperança. Além de ter vencido o Booker Prize de 2021, foi considerado o livro do ano pelo Sunday Times, Guardian, Observer eDaily Telegraph. Do texto de orelha de Itamar Vieira Junior, autor de Torto arado: "Damon Galgut demonstra habilidade rara para apresentar os diferentes pontos de vista das personagens, costurando com as questões cruciais de seu país e assim nos levando ao âmago de uma história assombrosa. Na mesma medida, oferta ao leitor uma experiência vertiginosa, que faz deste romance uma casa atravessada por personagens em fúria. Ao concluirmos a leitura de A promessa nos resta a certeza de estarmos diante de uma obra ímpar. Daquelas que nos fazem perceber que a boa literatura pode ser uma verdadeira dádiva." "Um tour de force... Uma espetacular demonstração de como um romance pode nos fazer pensar diferente." – Comissão julgadora do Booker Prize, 2021 "Um dos melhores romances do ano. Um livro que responde à pergunta 'Para que serve um romance?' com um simpes 'Para isso'". –The Times "Uma obra-prima – um dos melhores livros que li na última década e com certeza o melhor que li este ano." – Elizabeth Day "Esplêndido." – Paula Hawkins "Uma quantidade surpreendente de romancistas é muito boa; poucos são extraordinários. Damon Galgut pertence à última categoria. Elogiar o livro pelas suas particularidades – por sua seriedade; por seu equilíbrio entre liberdade formal e elegância; por seu humor, sua precisão, sua verdade humana – parece inadequado e parcial. Decididamente: Você precisa ler este livro." –Claire Messud

A promessa

La promessa

The Good Doctor

A Man Booker Prize finalist: “This tale of ill-fated journeys through Greece, Africa and India shows” the author of The Quarry “at a superb new high” (The Guardian). In this newest novel from South African writer Damon Galgut, a young loner travels across eastern Africa, Europe, and India. Unsure what he’s after, and reluctant to return home, he follows the paths of travelers he meets along the way. Each new encounter—with an enigmatic stranger, a group of careless backpackers, and a woman on the verge—leads him closer to confronting his own identity. Traversing the quiet of wilderness and the frenzy of border crossings, every new direction is tinged with surmounting mourning, as he is propelled toward a tragic conclusion. Shortlisted for the 2010 Man Booker Prize, In a Strange Room is a hauntingly beautiful evocation of life on the road. It was first published in the Paris Review in three parts—“The Follower,” “The Lover,” and “The Guardian”—one of which was selected for a National Magazine Award and another for the O. Henry Prize.

In 1912, the SS Birmingham approaches India. On board is Morgan Forster, novelist and man of letters, who is embarking on a journey of discovery. As Morgan stands on deck, the promise of a strange new future begins to take shape before his eyes. The seeds of a story start to gather at the corner of his mind: a sense of impending menace, lust in close confines, under a hot, empty sky. It will be another 12 years, and a second time spent in India, before 'A Passage to India', E.M. Forster's great work of literature, is published. During these years, Morgan will come to a profound understanding of himself as a man, and of the infinite subtleties and complexity of the human nature, bringing these great insights to bear in his remarkable novel.

Arctic Summer

The family - that small circle of beings where love should flourish - can be an arid and alienating territory where hatred and violence may ignite. On the surface, Small Circle of Beings, the novella which gives its title to this collection, concerns a family living what would appear to be an idyllic life. When the couple's only child falls ill, tension and strain begin to take their toll, and the hairline cracks and fissures in his parents' relationship gradually widen and split open until a marriage that seemed solid and secure falls irretrievably apart. Galgut's economy of style and his chilling gift for understatement and the macabre are nowhere more eloquently displayed than in this gripping story. The same sensitive and atmospheric writing can also be seen in the shorter stories - Lovers, Shadows, The Clay Ox and Rick.

Small Circle Of Beings

Three Journeys

Give yourself up. Whatever you've done. They'll find you. In the end. A man with no name staggers down a lonely stretch of road that cuts through the simmering veld of rural South Africa. He is exhausted and hungry yet dives for the long grass whenever cars approach. He is on the run. When a minister on his way to a new congregation offers help - at a price - the fugitive's desperation boils over. Stealing the minister's identity, he is successfully taken in by the township. But when a body is discovered in a nearby quarry, and the local police captain's suspicions grow, the hunt reignites with devastating consequences. 'One of South Africa's great literary voices' Economist 'Galgut's prose feels as if it's been fired through a crucible, burning away all the comfortable excess until only a hard, concentrated purity remains' Daily Telegraph

From the Booker prize-winning author of The Promise

The Quarry

Roman

Das Versprechen

"On a lonely stretch of road a nameless man commits a murder. The victim is a religious minister on his way to take up a post in a nearby town. The murderer decides to steal the dead man's identity only to discover that one of his first duties as the new minister is to bury a body that has just been found close to a disused quarry." "The head of the local police, the Captain, takes a keen interest in the minister's work. Although there is evidence linking young petty criminals to the crime, the Captain knows it is the new minister who is guilty. The Captain decides to bide his time - watching, listening, slowly circling his prey. The Quarry builds to a climax that is almost too much to bear: with the town's church ablaze, the Captain is compelled to pursue the murderer across the veld, as his exhausted quarry struggles to make good his escape."--BOOK JACKET.

The quarry

Margaret Stead

Louise Cullen

Een arts op het Zuid-Afrikaanse platteland, die zich heeft geschikt in zijn weinig opzienbarende leven, wordt wakker geschud door de komst van een nieuwe, jonge collega.

Damon Galgut

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