Theft
By the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Publishing:18th Mar '25
£18.99
This title is due to be published on 18th March, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
The new novel from the winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature - 'a maestro' (Guardian). A captivating story of the intertwined lives of three young people coming-of-age in postcolonial East Africa
What are we given, and what do we have to take for ourselves?
It is the 1990s. Growing up in Zanzibar, three very different young people – Karim, Fauzia and Badar – are coming of age, and dreaming of great possibilities in their young nation. But for Badar, an uneducated servant boy who has never known his parents, it seems as if all doors are closed.
Brought into a lowly position in a great house in Dar es Salaam, Badar finds the first true home of his life – and the friendship of Karim, the young man of the house. Even when a shattering false accusation sees Badar sent away, Karim and Fauzia refuse to turn away from their friend.
But as the three of them take their first steps in love, infatuation, work and parenthood, their bond is tested – and Karim is tempted into a betrayal that will change all of their lives forever.
Praise for Abdulrazak Gurnah: '‘Gurnah gathers close all those who were meant to be forgotten, and refuses their erasure -- MAAZA MENGISTE * GUARDIAN *
A brilliant and important book for our times, by a wondrous writer -- PHILIPPE SANDS * NEW STATESMAN, Books of the year *
Gurnah is a master storyteller -- AMINATTA FORNA * FINANCIAL TIMES *
Confirms Gurnah’s place among the outstanding stylists of modern English prose ... This is a novel that demands to be read and reread, for its humour, generosity of spirit and clear-sighted vision of the infinite contradictions of human nature * EVENING STANDARD *
As beautifully written and pleasurable as anything I've read ... The work of a maestro * GUARDIAN *
A powerfully evocative oeuvre that keeps coming back to the same questions, in spare, graceful prose, about the ties that bind and the ties that fray * DAILY TELEGRAPH *
Rarely in a lifetime can you open a book and find that reading it encapsulates the enchanting qualities of a love affair ... one scarcely dares breathe while reading it for fear of breaking the enchantment * THE TIMES *
Effortlessly compelling storytelling ... Gurnah excels at depicting the lives of those made small by cruelty and injustice ... You forget that you are reading fiction, it feels so real -- LEILA ABOULELA
ISBN: 9781526678645
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
240 pages