T.C. Farren’s THE BOOK OF MALACHI has been longlisted for the 2020 Nommo Awards for Speculative Fiction by Africans, awarded by the African Speculative Fiction Society.
THE BOOK OF MALACHI was published by Kwela in South Africa, where the Cape Times described it as ‘utterly brilliant’ and the Sunday Times said the novel ‘will have you ripping through the pages’. It will be published in the UK and US by Titan Books in October 2020, with audio available from Bolinda.
Malachi Dakwaa has survived civil war but is mute, his tongue cut out. Disengaged from the world, he's performing mind-numbing work as a factory slave when he gets an extraordinary job offer he can't refuse. In exchange for six months as warden on a top-secret organ-farming project, Frasier Pharmaceuticals will graft a new tongue for him. Far out to sea, Malachi finds himself among warlords and mass murderers of the kind who have ruined him. But are the prisoners as evil as Frasier says? Do they deserve their fate?
As doubt starts to grow, Malachi’s own memories rise until he must make a terrible choice. To remain silent and let them suffer, or risk his life to set them free.
Malachi may have no tongue, but his is a voice you will never forget – sharply ironic, vividly descriptive and leavened with humour, every sense sharpened by his loss of speech. He is a compelling guide through the twists and turns of a terrible dilemma, in this darkly gripping but ultimately redemptive novel.
The shortlist of the Nommo Awards will be revealed in mid-May.
Praise for THE BOOK OF MALACHI
‘Farren is an exceptional writer, one of the best I’ve encountered, and not just in this country. By the time the novel ended, I was bereft, missing the characters and the setting as if I’d spent real time in an actual place. I can’t recommend this powerful novel highly enough.’ — Janet van Eeden Harrison, LitNet
‘Her descriptive powers are faultless, but more than that her understanding and exposition of what it is to be human, even in a broken form is magical… Sheer genius … Utterly brilliant.’ — Jennifer Crocker, Cape Times
‘Will have you ripping through the pages. Part thriller, part horror, part speculative fiction: this gripping read goes to the heart of ethical quandaries, forcing the reader to ask: “What if it were me?”’ — Sunday Times (SA)
‘An extraordinary, moving story that I read sometimes through the gaps in my fingers, like peeking at a horror movie — but one with hope and some exquisite visuals.’ — Country Life
T.C. Farren is a prize-winning novelist and scriptwriter, based in Cape Town. Her first novel, WHIPLASH won both humanitarian and literary awards. Her screenplay adaptation gave rise to the feature film, TESS, which won numerous awards, including a prestigious screenwriting nomination. She also adapted her highly acclaimed second novel, SNAKE to a screenplay which has won production funding and is due to be produced soon. HOTEL NOWHERE, T.C. Farren’s drug trafficking thriller script has recently been selected for development.