Theft

In his latest novel, Abdulrazak Gurnah tells a subtle story set at the turn of the twentieth century. He returns to his native Tanzania and follows the fate of three young people whose lives intersect subtly, yet fundamentally. After his studies, Karim returns to his sleepy hometown with newfound confidence and great ambitions. Fauzia sees in him the hope of escape from the suffocating environment she grew up in. Together they offer refuge to Badar, a poor boy who is still unsure whether the future holds anything for him.

 Tourism gradually penetrates the silent world of the heroes, new technologies and unexpected opportunities and failures appear. Each of them deals with these changes in their own way - and each has a different interpretation of what it means to take fate into one's own hands.

 In Theft, Gurnah continues the themes that have characterised his previous work - the question of identity, uprooting, social inequality and the relationship between Africa and Europe in a globalised world. He writes about memory and responsibility, but also about what people owe each other and what they take from each other. And it reminds us that human stories are always more complex than they first appear.