Leading the Cheers

Justin Cartwright (1943-2018) was a British novelist originally from South Africa, born in Cape Town and raised in Johannesburg, who explored themes of contemporary life, satire, and history in his works often set between South Africa and Britain. He wrote 13 novels, with notable ones including In Every Face I Meet (shortlisted for the Booker Prize and Whitbread Award, winner of Commonwealth Writers' Prize), Leading the Cheers (Whitbread Novel Award winner), and The Promise of Happiness (Hawthornden Prize and Sunday Times Fiction Prize winner). Educated at Oxford, he worked in advertising and TV before becoming a full-time author, and was appointed MBE for political broadcast work and elected FRSL.