Theft

From the winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature, this captivating novel tells the intertwined story of three young people coming of age in postcolonial East Africa, earning recognition as a Time Book of the Year 2025 and a “book to look out for” by the Guardian, Observer, Irish Times, and BBC. Badar’s story begins at fifteen, when he is brought to Mistress’s grand house in Dar es Salaam, quickly learning the ways of the household and forming a close friendship with Karim, the young man of the house. But a false accusation leads to Badar’s banishment to a run-down hotel on the Zanzibar coast, where he must rebuild his life from scratch. When Karim visits his old friend, their reunion is fraught with temptations that threaten to test their friendship to the breaking point. Praised for its poignant portrayal of love, friendship, and betrayal, and its masterful storytelling, the novel was also shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Awards 2026 in the category of Fiction With A Sense of Place.