Book description
In a world all but drowned, a man called Bran has been living alone on
an island for ten years. He was sent there in exile by those whose
leader he was, and he tallies on the wall of his cave the days as they
pass. Until the day when something happens that kindles in Bran such
memories and longing that he persuades himself to return, even if it
means execution. His reception is so unexpected, so mystifying that he
casts about unsure of what is real and what imaginary. Only the
friendship of a child anchors him as he retraces the terrible deeds for
which he is answerable, and as he tries to reach back, over his biggest
betrayal, to the one he loved. Wall of Days is a profoundly moving novel
about guilt, loss and remembering. "'A riveting and overwhelming
story, told by a consummate storyteller who appears well set to become a
defining novelist of our time' (Andre Brink) 'Bruce's debut novel is
both ambitious and hugely readable - holds its own in the deluge of
post-apocalypse literature' (Independent) 'Bruce's exceptional novel has
echoes of JM Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians, against which it more
than holds its own' (Financial Times)" In a world all but
drowned, a man called Bran has been living alone on an island for ten
years. He was sent there in exile by those whose leader he was, and he
tallies on the wall of his cave the days as they pass. Until the day
when something happens that kindles in Bran such memories and longing
that he persuades himself to return, even if it means execution. His
reception is so unexpected, so mystifying that he casts about unsure of
what is real and what imaginary. Only the friendship of a child anchors
him as he retraces the terrible deeds for which he is answerable, and as
he tries to reach back, over his biggest betrayal, to the one he loved.
Wall of Days is a profoundly moving novel about guilt, loss and
remembering.
