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

Abdulrazak Gurnah's Theft is complex in its themes of class and entitlement, but it's also, fundamentally, a piece of great, satisfying storytelling to lose yourself in.

Samantha Harvey, GUARDIAN, Perfect holiday reading

The Nobel laureate transports us to 1990s Zanzibar and Tanzania to trace the intersected lives of Badar, Karim and Fauzia, traversing years, perspectives and the mysteries of family history with the deceptive ease of a masterly storyteller ... The rewards are rich and lasting

Financial Times, Best summer books of 2025: Fiction

Another glittering tapestry of a novel from a master storyteller of our times

Irish Times

A storyteller of understated brilliance … A poignant portrait of love, friendship and betrayal … Powerful, affecting and provocative, Theft is a vital addition to Gurnah's remarkable body of work, a novel steeped in heartbreak and loss but one that ultimately refuses despair

Guardian

Nothing about human behaviour surprises Gurnah, and in reading his wise new novel with its gentle and beautiful ending, we the readers become a bit less judgemental, and more ready to understand what it means to struggle, to dare, to love – what it means to be human

Elif Shafak, New Statesman, Book of the Day