The Quarry

New
Paperback
2005
$9.08

On a lonely stretch of road a nameless man commits a murder. The victim is a religious minister on his way to take up a post in a nearby town. The murderer decides to steal the dead man's identity only to discover that one of his first duties as the new minister is to bury a body that has just been found out near the quarry... Captain Mong, the head of the local police takes a close interest in the minister's work, although there is evidence linking young petty criminals to the crime. Mong knows it is the new minister who is guilty. But he bides his time, watching, listening, slowly circling his prey. Building to a climax that is almost too much to bear with the town's church ablaze, the Captain is compelled to pursue the murderer across the veldt,while his exhausted quarry struggles to make good his escape. In The Quarry, Galgut's tender prose combines with the power of myth to create a devastating drama, alive with tension.

Synopsis

On a lonely stretch of road a nameless man commits a murder. The victim is a religious minister on his way to take up a post in a nearby town. The murderer decides to steal the dead man's identity only to discover that one of his first duties as the new minister is to bury a body that has just been found out near the quarry... Captain Mong, the head of the local police takes a close interest in the minister's work, although there is evidence linking young petty criminals to the crime. Mong knows it is the new minister who is guilty. But he bides his time, watching, listening, slowly circling his prey. Building to a climax that is almost too much to bear with the town's church ablaze, the Captain is compelled to pursue the murderer across the veldt,while his exhausted quarry struggles to make good his escape. In The Quarry, Galgut's tender prose combines with the power of myth to create a devastating drama, alive with tension.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 224
Edition: New edition
Publisher: Atlantic Books
Published: 12 May 2005
ISBN 10: 1843542951
ISBN 13: 9781843542957
Book Overview: 'I liked this novel a lot. It has all the vigour and raw honesty of The Good Doctor.' Doris Lessing

Media Reviews

'Damon Galgut is a writer of immense clarity and control. His prose feels as if it's been fired through a crucible, burning away all the comfortable excess until only a hard, concentrated purity remains... There are thrilling images here, powerful themes and almost scarily precise writing.' Patrick Ness, Daily Telegraph 'Beautifully written' Guardian 'An uncompromising journey into the heart of South Africa's darkness, written in prose that is at once stark and striking.' Michael Arditti, Literary Review 'An extremely atmospheric book in a hazy, raw and entirely realistic sense... A compelling read about guilt and evasion of truth.' Tom Hiney, Spectator 'Damon Galgut's style is as bony as the landscape he depicts, as sly and sinewy as the characters that Inhabit it... Blunt and tense and fresh.' TLS

Author Bio

Damon Galgut was born in Pretoria in 1963, and now lives in Cape Town. He wrote his first novel, A Sinless Season, when he was seventeen. His books include Small Circle of Beings, The Beautiful Screaming of Pigs, The Quarry, The Good Doctor, The Impostor, and In A Strange Room. His novels have twice been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize (The Good Doctor; In A Strange Room), and The Impostor was shortlisted for the Dublin/IMPAC Award and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, which Galgut also won with The Good Doctor.