Lead Review (Theft)
- Book: Theft
- Location: Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar
- Author: Abdulrazak Gurnah
Theft by Abdulrazak Gurnah, novel set in Dar Es Salaam and Zanzibar.
Shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards 2026 – Fiction With A Sense Of Place
The story is set between Zanzibar and Dar in the 1990s, at a point when the country was transitioning from a one party state to a multi-party system. The political situation is certainly referenced at one point.
As the novel starts, it is a coming-of-age story of the three protagonists, to wit Karim, Badar and Fauzia. They each have very distinctive personalities that come through loud and clear. Karim has never really known his father, as his mother left her arranged marriage because of domestic violence. She settles with him in her parents’ household and ultimately moves from Zanzibar to Dar to be with her new husband, who welcomes Karim with open arms.
Badar comes from a poor background and due to vague family connections, he ends up as a servant in Karim’s mother’s household, where he is treated well enough by most but not all. In Badar, the author paints a credible character who struggles with attachments issues, someone who has also learned to endure. And in the early days he values his friendship with Karim, although it is clear that Karim has a malevolent side on occasion.
Fauzia was a much cared for daughter, who struggled in the early years with an unnamed affliction that perhaps resembles epilepsy.
Fate brings them all together in various ways and this is a story where friendships are tested and relationships pivot the characters into new life phases. There is a richness of description that transports the reader both in time and place, Tanzania is wonderfully evoked. The writing is skilled and unhurried as the author constructs his story and develops his characters.
I found this to be an immersive book, with tantalising plot developments and it felt like a very human read, all set against a vivid backdrop.
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