But effectively, the economy keeps everyone more or less where they were.” “The laws of apartheid are not on the statute books anymore. “Basically, apartheid’s dead and gone, but apartheid is still here,” Galgut said in an interview with the Irish Times about the novel’s underlying theme. But the children are conflicted over whether to follow through on their mother’s wish.Īlso read: Book Excerpt: The Surprising Similarities in Ideas Shared by Ashoka and Kautilya The matriarch’s dying wish - or promise - is to gift a house on the property to the Black woman who has worked for the family her whole life. His latest novel narrates the story of a white South African farming family across four decades that are punctuated by a death in the clan. “I would like to accept this on behalf of all the stories … that come from this wonderful continent,” he said. He also dedicated the prize to all African writers. “It’s taken a long while to get here and now I think that I shouldn’t be here,” Galgut said somewhat modestly, adding that he was “stunned” to win the award. The South African playwright and novelist wrote his first novel aged 17 and won the 2015 Sunday Times Fiction Prize for his eighth book, Arctic Summer. South African author Damon Galgut has won the £50,000 (€58,750) Booker Prize for The Promise, beating out a quality field that included one other previously shortlisted author, Richard Powers.

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