Description

**Selected as a Book of the Summer 2025 by the Guardian, Financial Times, Economist and the BBC**

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

‘A poignant portrait of love, friendship and betrayal’ Guardian
‘Storytelling mastery’ Observer
‘A piece of great, satisfying storytelling to lose yourself in’ Samantha Harvey, Guardian Books of the Summer
‘The reader can only rejoice at Gurnah’s skill in giving us the whole of a life in such nimble scenes’ Financial Times
‘Another glittering tapestry of a novel from a master storyteller of our times’ Irish Times

_________________________________________________________

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.

‘In reading this wise new novel, we the readers become a bit more ready to understand what it means to be human’ Elif Shafak, New Statesman

‘Storytelling mastery, at once coming-of-age chamber piece and wide-angled post-colonial panorama … narrated in a quicksilver style that gives you the pleasurable sense that you’re putty in the hands of a warm yet clear-eyed authorial intelligence’ Observer

Publisher Review

Nobody writes about the world we call postcolonial like Abdulrazak Gurnah. His novels are uncompromising, but also stubbornly humane. They come at their subjects with open eyes, and we need what they see — Juan Gabriel Vasquez Three young people come of age in post-colonial East Africa in the new novel from the winner of the 2021 Nobel prize in literature. At the turn of the 21st century, change is coming to Tanzania – but will the dreams of young servant boy Badar be realised along with those of his wealthier, more educated friends? * Guardian, The books to look forward to in 2025 * A characteristically poised and elegant story about three young people growing up in present-day Tanzania — Alex Preston * Observer, Fiction to look out for in 2025 * Theft by 2021 laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah is the story of the intertwined lives of three young people coming-of-age in postcolonial east Africa * Irish Times, Fiction to look out for in 2025 * Theft by Abdulrazak Gurnah is the highly anticipated first novel since Gurnah won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2021. Set in Zanzibar in the 1990s, this coming-of-age novel focuses on three very different young people, including Badar, an uneducated servant boy who has never known his parents * BBC * 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