Fathers and Fugitives
by S.J. Naudé
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Pub Date Sep 10 2024 | Archive Date Sep 10 2024
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Description
An inventive and emotionally charged novel about fatherhood and family, loyalty and betrayal, inheritance and belonging.
Daniel is a worldly and urbane journalist living in London. His relationships appear to be sexually fulfilling but sentimentally meager. He has no relationships outside of sexual ones, and can seem at once callow and, at times, cold to the point of cruel with his lovers. Emotionally distant from his elderly, senile father, Daniel nonetheless returns to South Africa to care for him during his final months. Following his father’s death, Daniel learns of an unusual clause in the old man’s will: he will only inherit his half of his father’s considerable estate once he has spent time with Theon, a cousin whom he hasn’t seen since they were boys, who lives on the old family farm in the Free State. Once there, Daniel discovers that the young son of the woman Theon lives with is seriously ill. With the conditions bearing on Daniel’s inheritance shifting in real time, Theon and Daniel travel with the boy to Japan for an experimental cure and a voyage that will change their lives forever.
S.J. Naudé’s masterful novel is many things at once: a literary page-turner full of vivid, unexpected characters and surprising twists; a loving and at times shockingly raw portrayal of its protagonist’s complex psyche; and a devastatingly subtle look into South Africa’s fraught recent history.
A Note From the Publisher
- For readers of authors like Damon Galgut (The Promise), J.M. Coetzee (Disgrace), Deborah Levy (August Blue), André Aciman, Paul Harding, Michael Cunningham, Rumaan Alam, Hari Kunzru, David Szalay, Justin Torres, Jonathan Escoffery, Katie Kitamura, Catherine Lacey, Rachel Cusk
- Literary fiction readers - well-crafted, formally inventive literary fiction; complex characters, global settings, and stylish prose; character-driven
- LGBTQ readers - readers interested in complex gay characters and relationships. Daniel's sexuality, its emotional matrix, and the attempts to rethink family and relational dynamics are all key elements in the story
- Diverse audiences - global setting, characters of different backgrounds, distant settings and cultural representation.
- Fans of family drama - fatherhood, inheritance, loyalty, and family bonds; dysfunctional family stories
- Travel fiction fans - jumps from London to South Africa to Japan
- Male readers - With a complex male protagonist, the book could resonate with male readers who appreciate literary antiheroes and father-son themes
KEY SELLING POINTS
- For readers seeking a propulsive story with global appeal, Fathers and Fugitives delivers a gripping tale of family, loyalty, and redemption spanning continents.
- Exploring fatherhood, inheritance, and the search for belonging, Fathers and Fugitives weaves a profoundly moving story for book clubs to dive into.
- Visceral, enigmatic, and unrelenting - Fathers and Fugitives cements Naudé as a rising literary talent to watch.
- Freelance Publicist (P1M, recent campaigns include, The Postcard, Mrs. S, Living with Our Dead)
- Award winning author, shortlisted for the Sunday Times Prize
Advance Praise
Praise for Fathers and Fugitives
“Cool and intelligent, unsettling and deeply felt, Naudé’s voice is something new in South African writing.” —Damon Galgut, Booker Prize winning author of The Promise
“An astonishing and deeply moving novel. There seem to be no limits to Naude’s powers as a writer.”—Rapport (South Africa)
“The serpentine, truly unpredictable plot takes what could have been a standard trope of the dying father and his final wish, the gay son and his last acts to please a parent, into hitherto unexplored territory for Naudé. This moody, melancholy heartbreaker of a novel, with a push and pull between the global and hyper-local, sweeps you off your feet. It then punches you in the solar plexus as you learn to care deeply for a cast of deeply wounded characters."—Jonathan Amid, News24 (South Africa)
“In a certain sense the novel can be read as a contemporary Disgrace, but it's far subtler and more nuanced. It is a masterpiece that avoids judgements and conclusions, that simply states and yet grabs hold of the heart. It leaves me breathless with admiration. What a world-class author we have in this double Hertzog Prize winner. We will keep our eyes fixed on the horizon.”—Deborah Steinmar, Vrye Weekblad
PRAISE FOR S.J. NAUDÉ
“These are the mature stories of a master...They have much to say about what one may call the South African condition, or part of it...These are deceptively easyreading stories, to be returned to more than once to uncover new meanings and dimensions.”—Hans Pienaar, Business Live, on Mad Honey
“Mad Honey is a collection of eight short stories by S.J. Naudé that take you on a journey across the globe: Cape Town, Iceland, Belgium, the Alps, New England, and finally to Namibia...A collection of stories that will haunt, engage and disturb you.”—Christine E. Hann, The Witness on Mad Honey
“This is an outstanding, accomplished novel with both literary depth and a powerful emotional charge.”—Alastair Mabbott, The Herald (Scotland), on The Third Reel
“It is a magnificent, brilliant feat of writing, visceral and unflinching, and marks the point at which Naudé moves to the front line of the best of South African writers...Few books in the past years have I thought of more highly, or have affected me as much.”—Beverley Roos-Muller, Cape Argus, on The Third Reel
“Naudé has written a masterpiece of literature with an end that will leave you staring into the heart of light or darkness. But, mostly looking towards the light.”—Jennifer Crocker, Cape Times, on The Third Reel
“A work that definitely pushes the boundaries of convention, hope and desire, it is written in an eminently readable and beautiful style...The story is intricate, ambitious and haunting. Reflective of the cities in which the book is set, you’ll relive the sights and smells of an era that was fraught with sex, music, illness, loss and love. The construction is that of a fine piece of architecture, brilliantly fashioned and held together, taking us on a step-by-step journey through all the rooms of the psyche... Without doubt a book of great literary standing and one that holds the reader in its thrall, never losing its grip on you.”—Beryl Eichenberger, The Books Page, on The Third Reel
“Naudé’s beautifully shaped and often heartbreaking stories take the idea of home and tear it apart, fling it upside down and refashion it into a thing more mobile and less anchored...At once unsettling and deeply moving, this collection announces the arrival of a writer of great humanity and style.”—Patrick Flanery on The Alphabet of Birds
“A breathtaking, tender writer.”—Publishers Weekly on The Alphabet of Birds
“Naudé writes compellingly about South Africa and its dilemmas, but he is equally at home, or perhaps not at home, in many other places, in Hanoi, Phoenix, London, Tokyo. His characters are restless, drifting between cultures and languages, the farm and the city, the difficult present and the vanished past.”– Ivan Vladislavić on The Alphabet of Birds
Marketing Plan
Marketing & Publicity
- Dedicated freelance publicist (P1M)
- Author interviews, op-eds
- Excerpts pitched to The Paris Review, LitHub
- Author tour
- Indie Next Campaign
- Reading Group Guide
Marketing & Publicity
- Dedicated freelance publicist (P1M)
- Author interviews, op-eds
- Excerpts pitched to The Paris Review, LitHub
- Author tour
- Indie Next Campaign
- Reading Group Guide
Available Editions
EDITION | Other Format |
ISBN | 9798889660392 |
PRICE | $27.00 (USD) |
PAGES | 224 |
Available on NetGalley
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