The Longest Memory
  • Published: 8 September 1995
  • ISBN: 9780099462217
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 144
  • RRP: $26.99

The Longest Memory

Formats & editions
Paperback
8 Sep 1995
EBook
16 Nov 2017
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‘A gripping lyric exploration of the life of Whitechapel, a slave on an 18th century Virginia plantation… a brilliant – and beautiful – achievement.’ Independent on Sunday

Written in taut, poetic language, THE LONGEST MEMORY is set on a Virginian plantation in the 19th century, and tells the tragic story of a rebellious, fiercely intelligent young slave who breaks all the rules: in learning to read and write, in falling in love with a white girl, the daughter of his owner, and, finally, in trying to escape and join her in the free North. For his attempt to flee, he is whipped to death in front of his family, and this brutal event is the pivot around which the story evolves.
  • Published: 8 September 1995
  • ISBN: 9780099462217
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 144
  • RRP: $26.99
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About the author

Fred D'aguiar

Fred D'Aguiar is a poet and novelist. Born in 1960, he was raised in Guyana and London. He is currently Professor of English and Gloria D. Smith Professor of Africana Studies at Virginia Tech State University. His first novel, The Longest Memory, won the 1994 Whitbread First Novel Award.

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Praise for The Longest Memory

This deceptively simple book resonates long after it is finished

Paula Burnett, New Statesman and Society

A short book that speaks volumes about slavery... Keeping his page taut with compression and compassion, D'Aguiar makes The Longest Memory hard to forget

Peter Kemp, Sunday Times

D'Aguiar marks his accomplished arrival as a novelist with this compelling and compassionate work

Sean Coughlan, The Times

A haunting novel whose brevity and directness belie the depths of tragedy it plumbs.

Aida Edemariam, The Guardian (London)