Young Blood - by Sifiso Mzobe (Paperback)

About the Book

"Sipho, a seventeen-year-old from Umlazi, a township on the outskirts of Durban, South Africa, drops out of high school and joins a carjacking syndicate to make a name for himself and escape his family's low-income life with hijacking partners Musa and Vusi, Sipho learns the tricks of the dangerous trade and pushes deeper into the underbelly of Umlazi under the guidance of gang leader Sibani, while partying heavily and chasing women nightly despite loving his longtime girl-friend Nana. Both a red-hot crime novel of car heists, sex, and rival gangs and a coming-of-age story of a teenager navigating the costs of the fast life, Young Blood reveals the devastating violence and raw beauty of life in South Africa's townships."--Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

In the Umlazi Township in Durban, South Africa, seventeen-year-old Sipho discovers the thrills and consequences of a car theft life. Shortlisted for the 2022 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, winner of the 2011 Herman Charles Bosman Award, the Sunday Times Fiction Prize, and the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa.

Review Quotes

"Young Blood offers readers insight to a not often explored
underbelly of South Africa while also providing a fresh narrative on the
atypical "descent into crime" story." - Drizzle Review


"Young Blood drops the reader straight into the Umlazi Township of Durban, South Africa, where, having quit school and desperate for cash, young Sipho finds himself crossing increasingly harrowing boundaries into drugs, violence, and criminality. Sifiso Mzobe has written a compassionate, unsentimental, and artful portrait of a young man on the threshold of trying to preserve his life and his humanity by the very means that will almost inevitably destroy both." -Paul Harding, Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of Tinkers

"Young Blood is not a book for the faint at heart. Mzobe's
journalistic training manifests in each meticulous detail that
paints a harrowing portrait of crime life in Umlazi, and
hijackings, cold-blooded killings, and drug and alcohol use leap
from the page. But at the heart of the book lies another
message, one about friendship, family, community, and the value
of education. It's this message that leaves the reader hopeful." -Shelf Unbound


"A landmark in South African crime fiction." -New York Journal of Books

"Starting with smaller crimes like drug use and theft, Sipho's actions
intensify as he falls further in lust with the lavish rewards that crime
gets him. Of course, such bad judgment calls come with increasingly
dangerous risks, and the window for Sipho to choose a different path in
life closes further with every escalating act. The fetishization of
wealth, from upscale cars to access to expensive drugs, is portrayed
deftly, illuminating Sipho's choices as being mired in peer pressure and
capitalist messaging [...] Blunt, brisk, and fast-paced." -Kirkus Reviews

"Whether Sipho chooses to 'crash and burn' or to, instead, slow down and
live, is the question that draws the reader through the novel. At the
end of "the year of stubborn seasons," Sipho makes his choice." -Africa Book Link

"With crisp, cinematic prose, Mzobe transports us into
the dark abyss of Durban's harrowing nightlife, where gang violence is
rife, life is precarious, and young blood is carelessly used and
discarded. Winner of the prestigious Wole Soyinka Prize
for Literature in Africa when it was first published 10 years ago, this
raw coming-of-age novel will resonate with its new audiences for its
all-embracing tale of young people eager to escape poverty but with too
few choices." -Library Journal


"With elegance and satisfying language, Mzobe draws the world of a South African Township with difficulty and a simultaneous tenderness and hope. Mzobe is never sentimental, pushing his characters to breaking, towards a head on collision with fate and danger and consequences that seem irrevocable. Yet the drive is a deeply human one, the search for the limits of pain and the ability to resist the pressures of one's environment to carve a redemption. A strong novel." -Chris Abani, GraceLand and The Secret History of Las Vegas

"This debut novel is a compelling journey through the underbelly of the streets of Umlazi Township, Durban, and marks the arrival of a fresh new voice on the South African literary scene." - Mbali Vilakazi, Cape Times

"With considerable panache, [Mzobe] lifts the lid on township life in Umlazi, focusing on the lives and frequent violent deaths of the young bloods, the township high school dropouts who are faced with a stark choice. There is a good deal of raw power here, and an easy, fluent writing style. I hope we will hear more of Sifiso Mzobe." - Margaret von Klemperer, The Witness

"Young Blood is a sober account of the fate of many a young man. The question implied throughout is exactly how much young blood must be spilled before Sipho rediscovers his integrity." - Lara Sadler, Cape Argus

About the Author

Sifiso Mzobe was born and raised in the Durban township of Umlazi, where he still resides. He attended St Francis College in Mariannhill, then studied Journalism at Durban's Damelin Business Campus, receiving a distinction in Practical Journalism. Young Blood is his debut novel and won a number of awards, including the 2011 Herman Charles Bosman Award, the Sunday Times Fiction Prize, the South African Literary Award for a First-Time Published Author, and the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa. His second book, Searching for Simphiwe (Kwela Books, 2020), is a collection of stories centered on the Umlazi township released earlier this year to positive reviews. Mzobe currently works for a community newspaper as a journalist. Catalyst Press' release of Young Blood is Mzobe's North American debut.