A Distant Shore

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.

Promotion info

'A Distant Shore leaves a lingering taste in the mouth-A remarkable and penetrating novel' The Times

Reviews

A Distant Shore leaves a lingering taste in the mouth...A remarkable and penetrating novel' The Times 'A Distant Shore is a distillation of everything that makes Phillips's work so impressive: lucid, deceptively simple prose combined with huge ideas and complex emotions...One of those rare novels which successfully examines vast themes through the prism of small lives' Time Out 'Suspenseful, atmospheric, adventurous' Independent 'Phillips's clever novel about a society under increasing pressure to change won't fail to impress' Sunday Express 'This is literary fiction at its very best - a gripping, character-driven novel that portrays the malaise of a whole society through the stories of two individuals' Sunday Tribune 'One of the literary giants of our time' New York Times

Author description

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 two works of non-fiction and six novels. Crossing the River was shortlisted for the 1993 Booker Prize and he has won the Martin Luther King Memorial Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship and the James Tate Black Memorial Prize, as well as being named the Sunday Times Writer of the Year 1992 and one of the Best of Young British Writers 1993. His most recent publication was the collection of essays A New World Order.