The name of the novel concerns the promise that Rachel, the mother of the Swart family, gave the black maid Salome: She becomes the owner of the house where she lives on the land of Swart. The husband of the dying Rachel promises to fulfill her promise. However, the promise remains unlocked for almost 40 years… The fate of the White Family is gradually revealed before us as well as the history of South Africa from the apartheid through the hopeful advent of Nelson Mandela to the present. The author of the year 2021 won the Booker Prize for the novel.