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普勒托利亞郊外的一處農場，Swart一家人因葬禮齊聚一堂。母親留下遺願：為替這個家奉獻了一輩子的黑人女僕Salome，留下一棟屬於她的房子與土地。但母親屍骨未寒，承諾便被家族眾人推託擱置、假裝遺忘。
看著父親與親族對Salome多年來的勞動與付出視若無睹，轉頭卻大言不慚地高聲談論信仰、體面與秩序，家族的年輕世代Anton和Amor，厭棄這個家族和它背後所代表的一切。
種族隔離結束了，新的南非、新的語言與新的公平正義看似即將到來，然而土地與特權仍被舊時代的某些人牢牢掌握，每隔數年，當某個家族成員的死亡再次將所有人召回老家，那句未竟的承諾，也重新如陰影般籠罩所有人。小說穿梭於角色內心與夢境，在描繪一個家族崩解的同時，也刻劃了南非自種族隔離走向「新社會」後，依舊難以真正癒合的不平等與歷史裂痕。
<p style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variant-emoji: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.7; font-family: " helvetica="" neue",="" helvetica,="" arial,="" "\6587泉驛正黑",="" "wenquanyi="" zen="" hei",="" "hiragino="" sans="" gb",="" "\5137黑pro",="" "lihei="" pro",="" "heiti="" tc",="" "\5fae軟正黑體",="" "microsoft="" jhenghei="" ui",="" jhenghei",="" san-serif;="" font-optical-sizing:="" inherit;="" font-size-adjust:="" font-kerning:="" font-feature-settings:="" font-variation-settings:="" font-language-override:="" vertical-align:="" baseline;="" border:="" 0px;="" -webkit-tap-highlight-color:="" rgba(0,="" 0,="" 0);="" white-space:="" pre-wrap;"="">After years of service, Salome was promised her own house, her own land… yet somehow, as each decade passes, that promise remains unfulfilled. The narrator’s eye shifts and blinks: moving fluidly between characters, flying into their dreams; deliciously lethal in its observation. And as the country moves from old deep divisions to its new so-called fairer society, the lost promise of more than just one family hovers behind the novel’s title. In this story of a diminished family, sharp and tender emotional truths hit home.
