What Awards Did The Promise Galgut Novel Win?

At seventeen, love feels infinite and endings feel impossible. Arielle never planned to fall in love during her final year of high school. Noah never planned to let his guard down. But when quiet glances turn into late conversations and unspoken feelings surface, they find themselves caught in a connection neither of them is ready to name or walk away from. Set against the fragile edge of senior year, Promises We Made at Seventeen is a slow-burn, dual-POV romance about first love, fear, and the weight of choices made too young to fully understand, yet too deep to ignore. As expectations, rumors, and the future press in, Arielle and Noah must decide whether honesty is worth the risk and whether promises made before adulthood can survive what comes after. Tender, dramatic, and emotionally raw, this story explores what it means to love someone while still learning who you are, and how some promises no matter how small can change the course of a lifetime.

Promise was born into silence — a silence woven from an oath made before she could speak. Her village called it tradition. Her mother called it survival. But to Promise, it was a prison. She dreamed of Lagos, of lights and cameras, of a life that stretched beyond clay walls and whispered fears. Yet when the truth of her birth is revealed, everything she longs for seems impossibly far. The elders insist she must never leave. Her mother pleads with her to stay. And the weight of generations threatens to bury her voice. Between love and loyalty, fear and freedom, Promise must choose whether to surrender to a curse or defy it — even if it means breaking her world apart. The Girl Who Broke the Silence is a sweeping tale of tradition and defiance, of love and survival. It is the story of one girl’s fight to claim her name in a world that tried to silence her.

Some vows are made in ink. Others in fire. When billionaire Dante Marcellus accepts a reckless dare to marry before any of his friends, he doesn’t expect to find the perfect candidate in Lyra Quinn—a woman as stubborn as she is desperate. Bound by a contract and divided by pride, their marriage was never meant to mean anything. But in Dante’s world, control is everything—and Lyra is the one thing he can’t command. As lines blur between obligation and obsession, their paper promises begin to burn. Secrets unravel. Rules shatter. And what began as a game of possession becomes something far more dangerous—something real. When the truth about the bet surfaces, Lyra walks away. For Dante, winning was never supposed to hurt like losing her does. Now he’ll have to prove that some promises can survive the fire… if the heart that made them still beats beneath the ash.

In a world where love and betrayal walk hand in hand, Shattered Promises unravels the haunting story of a woman whose heart became both a weapon and a wound. Alina Carter thought she had everything — a passionate love, a promising future, and a man who swore the stars would always belong to her. But when his lies shattered her world, all that remained were broken promises and the echoes of a love she no longer recognized. The night she discovered his betrayal was the night her innocence died — and something darker was born within her. Years later, Alina has rebuilt her life, or so it seems. Behind her composed smile hides a storm of pain, guilt, and vengeance. When fate brings her face-to-face with the ghosts of her past — and a stranger whose presence feels dangerously familiar — she’s forced to confront not only the man who ruined her, but the woman she has become. Every secret has a cost. Every lie leaves a scar. And every shattered promise demands a reckoning. As Alina’s world spirals into a web of deceit, obsession, and passion, she finds herself torn between the darkness that seeks revenge and the light that offers redemption. But can love be reborn from the ashes of betrayal — or is she destined to destroy the very thing she’s trying to save? Shattered Promises is a gripping suspense thriller laced with forbidden desire, twisted secrets, and emotional intensity. It explores how love can heal or haunt, and how sometimes, the heart’s most dangerous enemy is the truth we refuse to face. In a story where trust is fragile and loyalty comes at a price, Alina must decide: will she be the victim of her past

Robert Blackwell promised to marry me, then postponed it thirty-eight times. The fifth time, a car crash broke eight of his ribs, and I signed seven critical-condition notices. The tenth time, on the way to get our marriage license, he and the car were thrown into the sea, and his suit was torn apart by sharks. By the thirty-eighth time, his heart disease had worsened and his life was hanging by a thread. Eight months pregnant, I changed flights three times and flew twenty-three hours across half the world to find him. When the door opened, a little boy who looked exactly like him lifted his face and said, "I thought Mom was back." Robert rushed out barefoot, panic written all over his face. I turned around and saw my best friend of twelve years standing behind me with a key in her hand. The little boy ran to her and threw himself into her arms, calling her Mom. So the fiance I had waited seven years for was my best friend's secret husband all along. "I will not wait through these thirty-eight near-death weddings anymore." "Robert, I do not want you either."

She came to Florence to build her future, to study architecture in Italy, believing that talent and hard work are enough to achieve her dreams. She never expected to lose herself first. In Florence she meets two unforgettable men, charismatic Matteo and kind hearted Rafael. What begins as an exciting student friendship slowly turns into a complicated love story. Matteo offers success and the future Violet always imagined, while Rafael awakens the part of her that dreams beyond ambition. Years later, Violet seems to have the perfect life, everything she once wished for. But appearances can hide painful truths. When Rafael unexpectedly returns from Greece, long-buried secrets begin to surface. Forced to confront the choices that shaped her life, Violet must decide whether it is too late to rediscover herself—and whether true love is about holding on or finally letting go. Set between the timeless streets of Florence and the breathtaking Greek coast, The City Where It All Began is an emotional slow-burn romance about dreams, betrayal, healing, and finding the courage to start over.