{"product_id":"9781923058910","title":"First of December","description":"Author: Jennings, Karen\u003cbr\u003eISBN: 9781923058910\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: The Text Publishing Company\u003cbr\u003eYear first published: 28 Apr 2026\u003cbr\u003ePages: 192\u003cbr\u003eFormat: Paperback \/ softback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom the Booker and Women's Prize long-listed author comes a novel about the week leading up to the moment all slaves were freed in South Africa.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst of December is set in the momentous week leading up to midnight on 1 December 1838, the day that South Africa's slaves were finally emancipated.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKaren Jennings' compelling novel tells this story of history in the making. It follows the lives of three characters battling their own personal circumstances.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere is the slave, the mother of a still-born baby, who decides to run away to Cape Town to find her lover. There is Caroline, the convalescent English bride, who loathes both her husband James and this ramshackle outpost to which he has brought her. And there is James himself, desperate to make his fortune in the colony after he has run through Caroline's dowry. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst of December is about the unexpected twists and turns of history. Its drama is born from the strivings of its characters to find a better life amid every kind of turmoil. From the moment the bells strike midnight, setting the slaves free, the world they inhabit will be irreversibly changed.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePRAISE-\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is an extraordinary novel. It is shattering, almost unbearable, yet-so good, so clear-it is unputdownable.'\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRoddy Doyle on \u003ci\u003eCrooked Seeds\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e'An unsparing, yet profoundly beautiful novel.' \u003cb\u003eChigozie Obioma on\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e Crooked Seeds\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e'Absolutely brilliant and proof again...that fiction can tell us more about our human condition than most journalism can...an amazing book with an incredible story at the heart of it.'\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eMichael Brissenden,\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e ABC RN- The Book Shelf \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eon \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eCrooked Seeds\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"Ships in 10 to 15 days","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46886565478558,"sku":"UBD-9781923058910","price":34.78,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0400\/9043\/5742\/files\/9781923058910.jpg?v=1779948281","url":"https:\/\/classicbargains.com.au\/products\/9781923058910","provider":"Classic Bargains Australia","version":"1.0","type":"link"}