Longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2021. Karen Jennings’ gripping novel asks a question: to what lengths will a person go in order to ensure that what is theirs will not be taken from them?

A young refugee washes up unconscious on the beach of a small island inhabited by no one but Samuel, an old lighthouse keeper. Unsettled, Samuel is soon swept up in memories of his former life on the mainland: a life that saw his country suffer under colonisers, then fight for independence, only to fall under the rule of a cruel dictator; and he recalls his own part in its history. The sea has brought him someone who offers companionship - but threatens his solitude… So what should he do?

Longlisted
The Booker Prize 2021
Published by
Holland House Books
Publication date

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Karen Jennings

Karen Jennings

About the Author

Karen Jennings is a South African author. Her debut novel, Finding Soutbek, was shortlisted for the inaugural Etisalat Prize for African Fiction.
More about Karen Jennings

I remember very little about writing this book other than walking the dogs every morning and muttering to myself, almost as a chant: 'This book is going to kill me, this book is going to kill me'

Karen Jennings, Booker Prize Q&A
The cover of An Island on a purple background.

Karen Jennings on rejection and believing in herself

Karen Jennings finished writing An Island in 2017, but ‘no one was interested’ and she struggled to find a publisher.

 

‘When I did finally get a small publisher in the UK and a small publisher in South Africa to co-publish, they couldn’t get anyone to review the book,’ she said in an interview with the Guardian. ‘We couldn’t get people to write endorsement quotes, or blurbs.’

 

Jennings spoke to the Guardian about her journey to publication, how pursuing writing came at a cost, and about her relationship with South Africa.

The Guardian

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