Afterlives By Abdulrazak Gurnah

About The Book

While he was still a little boy, Ilyas was stolen from his parents by the German colonial troops. After years away, fighting in a war against his own people, he returns to his village to find his parents gone, and his sister Afiya given away.

Another young man returns at the same time. Hamza was not stolen for the war, but sold into it; he has grown up at the right hand of an officer whose protection has marked him life. With nothing but the clothes on his back, he seeks only work and security – and the love of the beautiful Afiya.

As fate knots these young people together, as they live and work and fall in love, the shadow of a new war on another continent lengthens and darkens, ready to snatch them up and carry them away…

Editorial Reviews

“Arresting . . . explores what is gained and what is lost in the name of survival.” –TIME

“A fascinating, necessary novel.” – Lit Hub

“Riveting. . . . Gurnah’s spare, unvarnished prose shines a harsh but honest light on the brutality of Africa’s colonial past. . . and through his rich main characters, the impact of colonialism and other key global events truly hits home. This profound account of empire and the everyman is not to be missed.”–Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Breathtaking. . . . Gurnah constructs a remarkable portrait of tenderness, deep affection, and longing that stretches over time and across continents. . . . Absorbing, powerful, and enduring, Afterlives is an extraordinary reading experience by one of the great writers of our time.”–Booklist (starred review)

“Riveting and heartbreaking. . . A compelling novel, one that gathers close all those who were meant to be forgotten, and refuses their erasure.” –Maaza Mengiste, author of The Shadow King, in The Guardian

About Author

Abdulrazak Gurnah

Abdulrazak Gurnah is the 2021 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. He is the author of nine previous novels, including Paradise (shortlisted for the Booker Prize), By the Sea (longlisted for the Booker Prize and a finalist for the LA Times Book Award), and Desertion. Born and raised in Zanzibar, he is Professor Emeritus of English and Postcolonial Literatures at the University of Kent; he lives in Canterbury, Englan