Give yourself up. Whatever you've done. They'll find you. In the end.

A man with no name staggers down a lonely stretch of road that cuts through the simmering veld of rural South Africa. He is exhausted and hungry yet dives for the long grass whenever cars approach. He is on the run.

When a minister on his way to a new congregation offers help - at a price - the fugitive's desperation boils over. Stealing the minister's identity, he is successfully taken in by the township. But when a body is discovered in a nearby quarry, and the local police captain's suspicions grow, the hunt reignites with devastating consequences.

'One of South Africa's great literary voices' Economist

'Galgut's prose feels as if it's been fired through a crucible, burning away all the comfortable excess until only a hard, concentrated purity remains' Daily Telegraph

An extremely atmospheric book in a hazy, raw and entirely realistic sense.... Galgut's story suggests that such points on the map, despite their ghostly quiet, are seething with repressed violence, ready to explode.... A compelling read about guilt and evasion of truth * The Spectator *
In a bleak morality tale about a fugitive from justice, Galgut again demonstrates his flair for charting the vicissitudes of human despair in modern-day South Africa * Publisher's Weekly *
An...uncompromising journey into the heart of South Africa's darkness, written in prose that is at once stark and striking. The Quarry is Galgut's homage to Dostoevsky * Literary Review *
A remarkable achievement...Galgut's prose has a spare beauty, suggesting volcanic emotions held rigorously in check * Kirkus Reviews *
This taut existential thriller...divulges little but manages to suggest volumes... Stark, almost brutal minimalism * Boston Globe *
The Quarry has [a] dry, feral quality... Galgut's landscape reminds a reader of Breyten Breytenbach's South Africa...roads leading to some vanishing point, the feeling of pursuit... The issues of guilt, injustice and redemption give the novel a biblical feel. The writing shines in its peripheral vision, in the backdrops and corners of its scenes * Los Angeles Times *
One of South Africa's great literary voices * The Economist *
[Galgut's] 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... Galgut is at the leading edge of what is turning out to be a brilliant documentation of South Africa's post-apartheid transition * Daily Telegraph *
Beautifully written * Guardian *
A minimalist, almost allegorical story... Its tension is almost unbearable * Library Journal *

DAMON GALGUT is the author of nine novels. He won the Booker Prize 2021 for The Promise, having been shortlisted for the prize twice before (The Good Doctor and In A Strange Room). He lives and works in Cape Town.