[home] [news] [this year's award] [publishers] [libraries] [award archive] [faqs] [dublin city public libraries] [IMPAC] [contact us]
|
The
2005 Award
|
|
A Distant Shore by Caryl Phillips
|
Nominated by:
Publisher
of Nominated Edition:
|
| the complete A-Z listing of nominated authors |
|
ABOUT
THE BOOK
|
| Dorothy
and Solomon live in a new housing estate on the outskirts of an English
village. She's recently bought her bungalow; he's recently become the night
watchman. He is black, an immigrant. She is white, a recently retired music
teacher. They are both solitary, reticent outsiders. When they move tenuously
toward each other and their paths briefly cross, neither of them can know
that it will be the last true human contact either will have.
The novel unfolds into the past to show us how Solomon and Dorothy have arrived at this moment: Solomon, a former soldier, escaping the horrors of a war-ravaged African country, entering England illegally, a non-man with no resources but his own waning strength, and no comprehension of the society that both hates and harbours him; Dorothy, the product of a troubled childhood and a messy divorce, fleeing the repercussions of a desperate obsession. In scene after resonant scene, we watch as Solomon and Dorothy come to live inside themselves, closing off from a world that has changed-and changed them-beyond recognition. A
Distant Shore creates a brilliant and moving portrait of modern human
displacement: from home, from heart, and from self. |
| ABOUT THE AUTHOR |
| Caryl Phillips was born in St. Kitts, West Indies. Brought up in England, he has written for television, radio, theatre, and film. He is the author of three previous books of non-fiction, and six novels, including Crossing the River and The Nature of Blood, and has edited two anthologies. His awards include the Martin Luther King Memorial Prize, a Guggenheim fellowship, and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He lives in New York. |
|
|
[home] [news] [this year's award] [publishers] [libraries] [award archive] [dublin city public libraries] [IMPAC] [faqs] [contact us]
Copyright
© 2007 Dublin City Public Libraries
