In store now! Still Life by Zoe Wicomb
Expanding what we expect and what can be achieved through the novel form, Zoe Wicomb’s exhilarating debut finds a narrator struggling to write the biography of Thomas Pringle, the Scottish poet and abolitionist. As his voice vies for control of the narrative, others bubble to the surface - from the slave whose story Pringle published, to the fictional figures of Virginia Woolf’s novels - each with their own motivations and historical interests. As our narrator collapses under the weight of history, fiction, and culture, Wicomb’s novel gives way to meditations on the legacy of colonialism, sexism, and racism, all the while presenting a radical new form for the novel itself. A startling, unforgettable debut.
Order your copy today directly through October Books or buy online through our bookshop store and we’ll get a commission on your purchase.
Still Life by Zoe Wicomb
Paperback £10.99
Juggling with our perception of time and reality, Still Life tells the story of an author struggling to write a biography of Scottish poet and abolitionist Thomas Pringle. In her efforts to resurrect Pringle, the writer summons the spectre of Mary Prince, the West Indian slave whose History Pringle published, along with Hinza, his adopted black South African son. As these voices vie for control over the text and the lines between life writing and fiction-making begin to blur, yet another voice enters the chorus: Sir Nicholas Greene, the self-regarding poet from Virginia Woolf's novel Orlando.
Their adventures through time and space, from Victorian South Africa and London to the author's desk in Glasgow in the present day, offer a poignant yet often playful exploration of colonial history and racial oppression
Order your copy today directly from October Books or buy online through our bookshop store and we’ll get commission on your purchase.
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