Theft

By: Abdulrazak Gurnah

Narrated by: Ashley Zhangazha

Bloomsbury presents Theft by Abdulrazak Gurnah, read by Ashley Zhangazha.

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

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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.©2025 Abdulrazak Gurnah (P)2025 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Critic reviews

'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 Vásquez)

'Theft is marvelous - a book of incredible scope and unflinching intimacy that leaps fearlessly among its varied cast of characters, written with absolutely devastating emotional precision. Abdulrazak Gurnah has written another classic' (V V Ganeshananthan)

'Modesty and modest people are so hard to write about wittily and well yet Abdulrazak Gurnah luminously portrays the early years of a modest young man of no obvious importance. Theft is a morality tale in the truest sense: an unshowy, vividly evocative story about the things that matter, and the flimflam that really doesn’t' (Patrick Gale)

'Theft is not just a book. It is an entire universe held together by Abdulrazak Gurnah's beautiful, sensitive prose. In the stories of Badar, Fauzia and Karim rest the questions of entire generations confronting a changing world. But Gurnah also manages to do what only the most accomplished of writers can: 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)