Abdulrazak Gurnah: Theft, Bloomsbury, pub date: March 2025, hardback 9781526678645

"Theft" by Abdulrazak Gurnah is his first book after winning the Nobel Prize in 2021. A native of Zanzibar and Tansania, his new book is set in Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar in the 1990. His gentle, incomparable voice tells the story of  the interwoven lives of Karim, self -assured and born into a wealthy household, beautiful, intelligent and gentle Fauzia and subservient Badar, who is less lucky in life, a servant in Karim's parents household but also a relative.

The narrative follows them thru coming of age until they settle  on Zanzibar as now adults, still friends despite their very different backgrounds. Gurnah's writing is beautiful, atmospheric when it comes to describing the living conditions in post colonial Africa.  I particularly fell in love with Badar as a character, his innocence yet down- to-earth attitude. A gem of a book,  just what you would expect from the maestro.