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Elizabeth Day speaks to Damon Galgut about his new novel, The Promise, a family saga spanning decades of upheaval in South Africa. The promise of the title is both literal and metaphorical. Amor, the youngest daughter of the white Swarts family overhears her father vowing to Amor’s dying mother that he will handover a house on their land to their black maid, Salome. Whether he fulfills this promise or not provides the propulsive focus of a multi-generational, multi-voice story filled with unresolved promises that can be read as an allegory for South Africa itself.

And we’re looking ahead to the best books coming in July. Ore Agbaje Williams, an editor at The Borough Press, recommends Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith.

Presenter: Elizabeth Day
Producer: Kirsten Locke

Book List – Sunday 27 June and Thursday 1 July

The Promise by Damon Galgut
The Good Doctor by Damon Galgut
Arctic Summer by Damon Galgut
In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut
Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith