“Galgut will be seen as one of the great literary triumphs of South Africa’s transition… in every way the equal of J. M. Coetzee”—Rian Malan, author of My Traitor’s Heart

A modern saga that could only have come from South Africa, written in gorgeous prose that could only come from the pen of literary giant and Booker Prize-shortlisted author, Damon Galgut.

The Promise is the story of the Swart family—theirs is a story of failed possibilities, much like the history of their country. Haunted by an unmet promise made to the family servant, the well-to-do Swarts lose touch after the death of their mother.

Reunited by three funerals over three decades, the dwindling family reflects the charged atmosphere of post-apartheid South Africa in a family drama that unfurls against the unrelenting march of national history.

Damon Galgut
Damon Galgut’s 2003 novel The Good Doctor won the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Africa Region) and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. In a Strange Room (Europa, 2010) was also shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. In 2013, Galgut was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives in Cape Town, South Africa.

• Apr 12 2021
  “Galgut is wonderfully, Woolfianly adept.”
  — New Yorker
• Mar 27 2021
  “Vast, astonishing, resonant.”
  — Wall Street Journal
• Mar 15 2021
  “Extraordinary.”
  — Harper’s Magazine
• Mar 3 2021
  “A rich story of family, history, and grief.”
  — Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
• Feb 22 2021
  “A searing portrait of a damaged family.”
  — Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)