2007 Dayton Literary Peace Prize Fiction Runner-up

• Finalist for Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, Los Angeles Times
• A New York Times Notable Book, 2006
• A February Book Sense Pick
• A Borders Original Voices Selection
• USA Publication, January 2006
• South African Publication, May 2005
• UK Publication, May 2005

Guardian, UK
May 2006
“Lisa Fugard's suspenseful debut encapsulates both the country's recent past and the resentments and rivalries of a society on the brink of cataclysmic change, while producing an unforgettable evocation of the beauty and remorselessness of its landscape, with the harsh observation that "nothing dies peacefully in this part of the world.”

NPR, All Things Considered
March 2006
"The visible landscape comes beautifully alive … black servants and farm workers, neighboring settlers, all become quite vivid and memorable, as does the feel of that time and place, the land along the sometimes flowing Limpopo with its birds and lions, the fierce sandstone cliffs and the ancient baobab trees south of the river that marks the southern boundary of Skinner's Drift. After reading this powerful debut book, you'll know the territory and its dangerous legacy almost as well as your own childhood turf.”

Los Angeles Times Book Review
February 2006
“Skinner’s Drift is an uncanny, tragic piece of writing – all the more upsetting because the racial violence across the razor wire between Fugard’s South Africa and Botswana still exists. Keeping another race down changes not only the victim but also those who keep their feet on the other group’s neck. South Africa is no longer at a white hot flashpoint. But Fugard’s frighteningly good novel looks at this historic turmoil without wincing or turning away”

New York Times Book Review
January 2006
"Fugard skillfully interweaves the perceptions of a large cast of characters to tell her family story, and beautifully reveals both the public and private roles her characters play. We hear Lorraine's quiet, educated voice in her diary … We hear Martin's stutter, but also experience his desperate thoughts with terrifying immediacy. Nowhere is this counterpoint of private and public roles more poignant than in the relationship of old Lefu and Eva, whom he gives the Sotho name Naledi. Servant and mistress, teacher and student, they are confidants who share an alarming secret.”

Seattle Times
January 2006
“Balancing the vantage points of half a dozen characters with dexterity, Fugard keenly evokes a rough psychic and physical landscape ... Fugard is terrific at conjuring the sights, smells and feel of a place where lions and bands of wild monkeys still roam. And where the human atmosphere is thick with foreboding, as fear and anger mount on both sides of the racial (and marital) divide”

Chicago Tribune
January 2006
“Fugard is drawn to the drama and theatricality of human life… she wrestles in her fiction with the moral quagmires and ethical fallout of apartheid.”

Rocky Mountain News
January 2006
“Skinner's Drift alternates between Eva's South African childhood and her American present, enticing us with questions of loyalty and trust, of deception and hope … Fugard’s artful prose paints a portrait that is truly memorable”

O, The Oprah Magazine
January 2006
"In her challenging first novel, Skinner’s Drift, Lisa Fugard digs into South Africa’s recent transformation and excavates the pain and confusion that the end of apartheid brought to so many lives … The spirit of compassion and commitment to telling it straight truly enlighten this passionate book.”

Orlando Sentinel
January 2006
" Skinner’s Drift captures the tormented love-hate relationship so many South Africans bear towards their beautiful, savage land. It examines their guilt, their fury and their overwhelming need for reconciliation. Fugard writes with grace and authority. Her appreciation for her native land, its fauna, flora and glorious topography, is as palpable and her affection for its peoples.”

San Francisco Chronicle
January 2006
"… the most important character is South Africa itself, the land and its peoples, and Fugard has painted a portrait that stays with the reader long after the book is closed.”

Cleveland Plain Dealer
January 2006
" Skinner’s Drift, Lisa Fugard’s first novel, is set in her native South Africa, and like the land itself, it’s a gorgeous bloody book. Reading it is like tearing rare meat off bone … The visceral brutality of Fugard’s style perfectly captures the disintegrating van Rensburgs amid the slow steady rot of apartheid”

Elle
January 2006
" Fugard's novel is a transfixing ode to the complex ways in which our homeland informs our home life, and vice versa. When that country is South Africa, with its twisted history, epic beauty, and dangerous secrets, the results can't help but be hypnotic, and Fugard's unique skill is her ability to keep looking where others might be tempted to avert their gaze”

Publishers Weekly (starred)
October 2005
"Fugard captivates with this searing personal portrayal of the legacy of apartheid.”

Library Journal
October 2005
"Set against the vivid landscape and wildlife of the African landscape, this first novel conveys a message of redemption and forgiveness that holds true whether it's concerning a country and its people or a father and his daughter."

Booklist (starred)
September 2005
"Lisa Fugard writes with haunting lyricism about family secrets on a border farm community … Pair this with Coetzee’s Disgrace for an unforgettable story of truth unearthed.”

Daily Mail, UK
May 2005
“Lisa Fugard brilliantly evokes the past on Skinner’s Drift, the months of drought that sap the hope from a marriage, and the sense of danger that rises with the heat. … Fugard wonderfully captures the swift rivers of change in which contempt and fear, resentment, righteousness and loyalty churn in one unending torrent.”

ADVANCE PRAISE

Jennifer Egan, author of Look at Me and The Keep
“Lisa Fugard has written a wrenching, suspenseful tale set in a South Africa whose swoon of atmospheric detail envelops the reader and never lets go. Skinner’s drift is that rare thing: a first novel in which a human story and its political context feel equally, inseparably alive. A stunning first novel.”

Alexandra Fuller, author of Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight and Scribbling The Cat
“ … The landscape and the characters ring true, the tone and the dialogue are just right. It’s book like this – books that shake the dust our of our heads and hearts – that allow us to understand our past slightly better and walk forward more confidently. It should be read the way it was written- with compassion and an open heart.”

Monica Ali, author of Brick Lane and Alentejo Blue
“ An achingly beautiful book. Fugard’s real achievement is to allow the characters to fold so deeply inward in response to the almost unbearable tensions and yet to make us see how deeply they are connected. The politics are like an underground river, running constantly beneath the surface, never absent. The prose is simply stunning. Not just another eloquent new voice, but one with something to say.”