Theft (Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature) - by Abdulrazak Gurnah (Hardcover)

About the Book

"At the turn of the twenty-first century, three young people come of age in Tanzania. Karim returns to his sleepy hometown after university in Dar es Salaam with a new swagger and sense of ambition. There he catches the eye of Fauzia, who sees in him a chance at escape from a smothering upbringing. When the two of them offer a haven to Badar, a poor boy still unsure if the future holds anything for him at all, they little imagine how deeply their fates will entwine and diverge. As rapidly accelerating global change reaches even their quiet corner of the world, bringing tourists, technology, and unexpected opportunities and perils, each arrives at a different understanding of what it means to take your fate into your own hands"--

Book Synopsis

In his first new novel since winning the 2021 Nobel Prize, a master storyteller captures a time of dizzying global change.

At the turn of the twenty-first century, three young people come of age in Tanzania. Karim returns to his sleepy hometown after university with new swagger and ambition. Fauzia glimpses in him a chance at escape from a smothering upbringing. The two of them offer a haven to Badar, a poor boy still unsure if the future holds anything for him at all. As tourism, technology, and unexpected opportunities and perils reach their quiet corner of the world, bringing, each arrives at a different understanding of what it means to take your fate into your own hands.

Review Quotes

Praise for Theft

"Theft is complex in its themes of class and entitlement, but it's also, fundamentally, a piece of great, satisfying storytelling to lose yourself in."--Samantha Harvey in The Guardian

"Beautifully done . . .By the time his story is complete -- when the cord connecting everything is finally tied on the very last page -- the reader can only rejoice at Gurnah's skill."--Financial Times

"A tightly focused, beautifully controlled examination of friendship and betrayal." --The Economist

"A vital addition to Gurnah's remarkable body of work; a novel steeped in heartbreak and loss but one that ultimately refuses despair."--The Guardian

"Entirely engrossing. . .There are no single truths in this steady, mature novel, which may be why it feels so true as a whole." --Wall Street Journal

"Intimate. . .but the way Gurnah writes it, it all comes off as pretty heroic."--NPR.org

"Compassionate, revelatory. . .a kind of argument about the value of true character, about worth calibrated outside the marketplace of money, status and drama. . .[Gurnah's] sentences follow the riverbed of some ancient legend, even as he describes complicated modern lives."-- Washington Post

"A satisfying melodrama. . .[that] builds to an engrossing climax." --The New York Times Book Review

"Marvellous - a book of incredible scope and unflinching intimacy that leaps fearlessly among its varied cast of characters. Absolutely devastating emotional precision. Abdulrazak Gurnah has written another classic."--V V Ganeshananthan

"THEFT is not just a book. It is an entire universe . . .In these pages, we begin to recognize the generosity that remains even in moments of pain and chaos. We understand the pockets of light that still exist in those most turbulent days. Gurnah has done it again."--Maaza Mengiste

"Beautifully rendered. . .a profound examination of lineages, legacies and lies."--BookPage

"Theft takes many forms intimate and cultural, subtle and obvious in the newest web of interconnected lives masterfully spun by Nobel laureate Gurnah... Written with transfixing precision, wit, insight, and suspense, Theft is profoundly nuanced and revealing."--Booklist, STARRED review

"Gurnah is a captivating, enthralling storyteller whose characters are vibrant and sympathetic. The pages fly by quickly in his wonderful new novel." --Library Journal, STARRED review

"Nobel Prize-winning novelist Gurnah delivers a story whose title reverberates throughout. . . No word is wasted. . .A tightly constructed family drama with surprising complications." --Kirkus Reviews, STARRED review

"At once culturally specific and emotionally universal. . . Gurnah is at the top of his game."--Publishers Weekly, STARRED review

"Nothing about human behaviour surprises Gurnah, and in reading his wise new novel with its gentle and beautiful ending, we the readers become a bit less judgemental, and more ready to understand what it means to struggle, to dare, to love - what it means to be human."--Elif Shafak, New Statesman

"Gurnah's novels are written in an unshowy, elegant, often pleasingly old-fashioned prose that lends a certain beauty to stories that are sad and sometimes squalid."--Telegraph

"A quietly powerful demonstration of storytelling mastery, at once coming-of-age chamber piece and wide-angled post-colonial panorama . . .The conclusion - crackling with jeopardy, ultimately cathartic - moves all Theft's patiently assembled plotlines into place for a riveting denouement that is both unguessable yet entirely in keeping."--Observer

"This Nobel winner's new novel is a hit . . .Gurnah has a gentle and lyrical style that lets his tightly plotted tale unspool like a fable."--The London Standard

"Timely and captivating ... Simple yet elegant."--Glamour

About the Author

Abdulrazak Gurnah is the 2021 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. He is the author of nine previous novels, including Paradise (shortlisted for the Booker Prize), By the Sea (longlisted for the Booker Prize and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize), and Desertion. Born and raised in Zanzibar, he is Professor Emeritus of English and Postcolonial Literatures at the University of Kent. He lives in Canterbury, England.