![]() ![]() Something that would be transformative for Salome is of only marginal interest to the family, an irritant in the corner of their eyes. They are all part of the lives of the characters, and they shape them in profound ways, but for the characters money, sex and the search for meaning are to the fore. Instead it is background, as is apartheid and its aftermath, the changing political culture, crime and corruption, truth and reconciliation, and outbreaks of violence. ![]() You might therefore expect the promise, its consequences, and its effect on Salome and her son to be central to the novel. Amor witnessed his agreement and presses him on it but to no avail. Rachel wanted their black servant, Salome, to have the house she lived in on the farm. The promise of the title was made to Rachel by their father. It begins when Amor is brought home from school to join her father and siblings because her mother Rachel has just died. The Promise tells their story from the 1980s onwards through the prism of four funerals. The Swarts are a family of white South African farmers. ![]()
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