Paradise

From the Nobel Prize winner, a coming-of-age story that illuminates the harshness and beauty of an Africa on the brink of colonization "[Gurnah's novels] recoil from stereotypical descriptions and open our gaze to a culturally diversified East Africa unfamiliar to many in other parts of the world." --Nobel Committee for Literature at the Swedish Academy Shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Whitbread Award, Paradise was characterized by the Nobel Prize committee as Abdulrazak Gurnah's "breakthrough" work. It is at once the chronicle of an African boy's coming-of-age, a tragic love story, and a tale of the corruption of African tradition by European colonialism.Sold by his father in repayment of a debt, twelve-year-old Yusuf is thrown from his simple rural life into complexities of pre-colonial urban East Africa. Through Yusuf's eyes, Gurnah depicts communities at war, trading safaris gone awry, and the universal trials of adolescence. The result is what Publishers Weekly calls a "vibrant" and "powerful" work that "evokes the Edenic natural beauty of a continent on the verge of full-scale imperialist takeover."

Praise for Paradise: "An evocative portrait of Africa on the brink of change. . . . A poignant meditation on the nature of freedom and the loss of innocence, for both a single sensitive boy and an entire continent."--The New York Times Book Review "Gurnah masterfully interweaves Yusuf's story with the larger historical forces transforming the continent, all in a lush, seductive language that revels in its powers of storytelling."--Los Angeles Times "Vibrant. . . . Powerful. . . . Evokes the Edenic natural beauty of a continent on the verge of full-scale imperialist takeover by the European powers. . . . Gurnah conjures a cauldron of animosities among African Muslims, Indian merchants, European farmers, and native tribes."--Publishers Weekly "A fascinating coming-of-age story and an indictment of the European colonization of Africa, with side ventures into African social and religious dynamics . . . warmly recommended."--Library Journal (starred review)

Abdulrazak Gurnah was born in 1948 in Zanzibar and teaches at the University of Kent. He is the author of "Paradise," "Admiring Silence," and "By the Sea," all published by The New Press.