THE PROMISE: THE FIRST SOUTH AFRICAN EDITION

Cape Town, South Africa: Umuzi/Penguin Random House South Africa, 2021. First Edition. First Printing.. Softcover. As New/No Dust Jacket, As Issued.. Cape Town, South Africa: Umuzi/Penguin Random House South Africa, 2021. Softcover. As New/None, As Issued. First Edition/First Printing. 245 pages. The author's eighth novel. Damon Galgut's finest achievement. The First South African Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as an oversize softcover original only. In this particular case, the "follow-the-flag" preeminence of the South African Edition renders the "true first" status of the American Edition less significant than it otherwise would be. The First Edition is now rare. Presents Damon Galgut's "The Promise". His masterpiece. "Both tender and brutal. Brilliantly illuminates how both a small family and a large world endure - or don't endure. I will remember this beautifully devastating book, its enigmatic heroine for a long time" (Peter Cameron) . "Recalls the great achievements of Modernism in its imagistic brilliance, its caustic disenchantment, its relentless research into the human. For formal innovation and moral seriousness, Damon Galgut is very nearly without peer. He is an essential writer" (Garth Greenwell) . "The most important book of the last ten years" (Edmund White) . Damon Galgut was born to write, has published eight novels (as of 2021) and a short story collection. This body of work is all the more impressive because by his own admission, Galgut is a slow, painstaking writer, who still writes longhand on notebooks. Until recently, he remained a relatively obscure figure, known to and admired by mainly British and South African readers and fellow writers, who were fortunate to have discovered his work as it unfolded, developed, and matured over time. All that has now changed for good. We have quite a bit of catching up to do with this literary artist who is, indisputably albeit belatedly, the living definition of writer's writer. An absolute "must-have" title for Damon Galgut collectors. This copy is very boldly and beautifully signed and dated (shortly after publication) in black ink-pen on the title page by the author: "Damon Galgut 22 July 2021". It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a great book. This is one of few such signed and post-publication dated copies of the First Edition/First Printing (South African) still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: In this particular case, the "follow-the-flag" preeminence of the South African Edition renders the "true first" status of the American Edition less significant than it otherwise would be. A rare signed copy thus. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2003 for "The Good Doctor". Shortlisted for the Booker Prize, yet again, in 2010 for "In A Strange Room". Winner of the Booker Prize, at long last, in 2021 for "The Promise". One of the greatest writers of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER DAMON GALGUT TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1415210586.