Theft

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.

Selected as a book to look out for in 2025 by the Guardian, Observer, Irish Times and BBC.

‘A poignant portrait of love, friendship and betrayal’ - Guardian

‘Storytelling mastery … Gives you the pleasurable sense that you’re putty in the hands of a warm yet clear-eyed authorial intelligence’ - Observer

‘The reader can only rejoice at Gurnah’s skill in giving us the whole of a life in such nimble scenes’ - Financial 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.

‘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