LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2025. Experience Tash Aw’s “spellbinding” and “exquisite” novel, The South. Set against a backdrop of drought and decay on a once-flourishing farm, this “heartstoppingly vivid” story explores the powerful longing that blossoms between two boys, Jay and Chuan, over a single summer. As Jay is sent to work the neglected land, an intense connection ignites between them. Meanwhile, within the family home, regrets surface and relationships fracture under the weight of external pressures. The South is a masterful, intimate portrait of private desires and public forces colliding, marking the beginning of a sweeping quartet that reimagines epic storytelling for our times. Discover a radiant tale of family, desire, and inheritance.