October

Zoë Wicomb (1948–2025) was a South African writer living in Glasgow, Scotland, where she was emeritus professor at the University of Strathclyde. She is the author of Still Life, The One That Got Away, and Playing in the Light, all published by The New Press, as well as You Can’t Get Lost in Cape Town and David’s Story. She was an inaugural winner of the Windham-Campbell Prize in fiction.

Praise for October:“Wicomb adeptly navigates time, place, and the minds of various characters to illustrate the impact of apartheid on one family.”—The New Yorker “The novel provides an insightful look at how ‘memory is bound up with place,’ and at what it means to return home.”—Publishers Weekly “Better than any other living writer I know, Wicomb has mastered . . . . ‘free indirect discourse’: the penchant for slipping into subjectivities, letting characters’ interior thoughts seep into the narrating voice.”—Feminisiting “A must-read book. . . . Gives us the immigrant experience on a different continent other than ours, and another unique perspective written flawlessly by a writer we should all get caught up on ASAP.”—Flavorwire “Zoë Wicomb’s October is a moving family history and an incisive commentary on what it means to belong.”—Books Live