Book description
The English village is a place where people come to lick their
wounds. Dorothy has walked away from a bad thirty-year marriage, an
affair gone sour and a dangerous obsession. Between her visits to the
doctor and the music lessons she gives to bored teenagers, she is
trying to rebuild a life.
It's not immediately clear why her neighbour, Solomon, is living in
the village, but his African origin suggests a complex history that is
at odds with his dull routine of washing the car and making short
trips to the supermarket. Though all he has in common with the English
is a shared language, it soon becomes clear that Solomon hopes that
his new country will provide him with a safe haven. Gradually they
establish a form of comfort in each other's presence that alleviates
the isolation they both feel.
Caryl Phillips was born in St Kitts and now lives in London and New
York. He has written for television, radio, theatre and cinema and is
the author of twelve works of fiction and non-fiction.
Crossing the River
was shortlisted for the 1993 Booker Prize and Caryl Phillips has won
the Martin Luther King Memorial Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship and the
James Tait Black Memorial Prize, as well as being named the Sunday Times
Young Writer of the Year 1992 and one of the Best of Young British
Writers 1993.
A Distant Shore
won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize in 2004 and
Dancing in the Dark
was shortlisted in 2006.
