Like It Matters
(Umuzi, 2016)
When Ed meets Charlotte one golden afternoon, the fourteen sleeping pills he’s painstakingly collected don’t matter anymore: this will be the moment he pulls things right, even though he can see Charlotte comes with a story of her own.
They try to make a life in Muizenberg, but old habits die hard, and they become embroiled in a scheme that soon slips out of their control. In Like It Matters, each line of text, each mark on the page, is meticulously crafted as the novel charts, with striking flair, the life of a man cast adrift.
Longlisted for the Sunday Times Fiction Prize
Shortlisted for the 9mobile Prize for Best African Debut Novel
"Grittily realistic and acutely observed."
Damon Galgut, Winner of the 2021 Booker Prize for Fiction
Selected Praise for Like It Matters
"The word 'poetic' gets thrown around, but Cornwell earns it here."
Jay Parini, Author of The Last Station
"Magnificent in its scope, heart-wrenching in its depth, and beautifully elegant throughout. If you read nothing else from the South African canon this year, read this."
Gareth Langdon, Aerodrome
"Stylistically outstanding... Fear & Loathing in Muizenberg."
Joan Hambidge, Die Burger
"A compelling story about the human condition... A masterful novelist."
Jennifer Crocker, The Cape Times
"A perfectly crafted piece of fiction. Prose that sounds like music."
Andrea Van Wyk, Power FM
David Cornwell
Please contact Aoife Lennon-Ritchie at the Lennon-Ritchie Literary Agency.
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Writer, musician and filmmaker based in South Africa.