Shortlisted for the Guardian’s Not the Booker Award.

'It's a book that smashes into you’ Guardian

For fans of J.M. Coetzee, Anita Shreve and THE OTHER HAND, a devastatingly powerful novel from ORANGE PRIZE-longlisted Melanie Finn.

Most of us have a plan. Somewhere to go if something awful happens. Pilgrim Jones doesn't. She looks up at a departures board and takes the first flight.

She alights on the edge of Africa. Over confessions and strong gin, she's lured into a world of mercenaries and philanthropists, delusional heroes and witchdoctors in polyester suits. But what about the beating absence, the thing she's done?

SHAME is a novel about a world out of time, about magic and chance, Europe and Africa, learning to live and living to learn. It will transport you from diplomatic dinners to a land where fireflies light the sky, and a desolate, magical coastline where anything - anything - might happen.

SHAME will change you.