The_Lighted_Rooms
2010 Nominated

The Lighted Rooms

artwork-image

ABOUT
THE BOOK

Joan McAllistair is about to embark on the ‘Trip of a Lifetime’ with her daughter Eloise; a journey back to her childhood South Africa and the family homestead in the old Boer Republic of the Orange Free State.

For Eloise, the trip is partly a gift, partly a means of assuaging her guilt at moving her mother into a care home. For Joan, the discovery of her grandmother’s journal transports her to the troubled times of the Anglo-Boer war. Eloise, in the meantime, has gambled her business’s entire fortune on a promise made by an old lover.

ABOUT
THE AUTHOR Richard
Mason

Award-winning novelist Richard Mason was born in South Africa and lives in London.

He was 21 when his first novel, THE DROWNING PEOPLE, was published. It sold more than a million copies in 28 languages and won Italy’s Cavour Prize for Best First Novel. After his second novel, US, he began a collection of interconnected works that now include THE LIGHTED ROOMS, HISTORY OF A PLEASURE SEEKER and WHO KILLED PIET BAROL?

Award-winning novelist Richard Mason was born in South Africa and lives in London.

He was 21 when his first novel, THE DROWNING PEOPLE, was published. It sold more than a million copies in 28 languages and won Italy’s Cavour Prize for Best First Novel. After his second novel, US, he began a collection of interconnected works that now include THE LIGHTED ROOMS, HISTORY OF A PLEASURE SEEKER and WHO KILLED PIET BAROL?

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NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS

It is a vivid and captivating portrayal of a mother-daughter relationship. The novel explores the depth of experience rooted both in the individual and collective history of the nation. It depicts the strength of feelings and proves that being old means a lot but never having no voice.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Country
South Africa
Original Language
English
Author
Publisher
Weidenfeld & Nicolson

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