The Beautiful Screaming of Pigs: Author of the 2021 Booker Prize-winning novel THE PROMISE

Patrick Winter has returned to Namibia after completing his military service, and is forced to revisit his past and scale the wall that he has built around his painful memories of love, war, and loss. This is a beautifully written and thoughtful meditation on love, loss, and longing.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 160 pages
Publication date: 18 August 2022
Publisher: Atlantic Books

From the Booker Prize-winning author of The Promise, shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2003, comes a powerful and evocative novel that delves into the depths of human emotion and the complexities of history.

A year ago, Patrick Winter was in Namibia completing his military service. Now, in the wake of the first free elections, he has returned to the country he defended, the place where he first fell in love and experienced the profound depths of passion. As the country prepares to undergo a seismic transformation, Patrick is compelled to confront his past and scale the wall he has built around his painful memories of love, war, and loss.

What follows is a deeply moving and introspective journey that explores the nature of love, the scars of war, and the enduring power of memory. Patrick's prose is astonishingly sensitive, capturing the raw emotions and psychological intricacies of his characters with a lucidity and austere assurance that is devastating in its clarity.

Through his experiences in Namibia, Patrick grapples with the moral dilemmas and ethical complexities of his past, confronting the choices he has made and the consequences they have had on his life and the lives of those around him. The novel is a beautifully written and thoughtful meditation on love, loss, and longing, offering a profound exploration of the human condition and the complexities of history.

The Irish Times praised Patrick's writing as "an astonishingly sensitive writer," while The Times described it as "a work whose psychological observation is as subtle as its political analysis." Attitude magazine hailed it as "a beautifully written and thoughtful meditation on love, loss, and longing," and The Guardian praised its "lucidity and austere assurance of its prose."

In conclusion, Patrick Winter's The Promise is a masterpiece of literary fiction that offers a profound and thought-provoking exploration of the human experience. Through his sensitive and insightful prose, Winter invites readers to confront their own pasts and reflect on the choices they have made, while also providing a window into the complex and often painful history of Namibia. This is a novel that will stay with you long after you have turned the last page.

Weight: 150g
Dimension: 129 x 198 x 15 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781838958879
Edition number: Main