Published in 2020
119 pages
Karen Jennings is a South African writer based in Cape Town. She works in the History Department at the University of Stellenbosch, and particularly on the “Biography of an Uncharted People” project. Her debut American novel, An Island, was longlisted for the Booker Prize.
What is this book about?
A novel about guilt and fear, friendship and rejection; about the meaning of home.
Samuel has lived alone for a long time; one morning he finds the sea has brought someone to offer companionship and to threaten his solitude…
A young refugee washes up unconscious on the beach of a small island inhabited by no one but Samuel, an old lighthouse keeper. Unsettled, Samuel is soon swept up in memories of his former life on the mainland: a life that saw his country suffer under colonisers, then fight for independence, only to fall under the rule of a cruel dictator; and he recalls his own part in its history. In this new man’s presence he begins to consider, as he did in his youth, what is meant by land and to whom it should belong. To what lengths will a person go in order to ensure that what is theirs will not be taken from them?
