Afterlives

Description

By The Winner Of The 2021 Nobel Prize In Literature

Shortlisted For The 2021 Orwell Prize For Political Fiction

Longlisted For The 2021 Walter Scott Prize

‘Riveting and heartbreaking … A compelling novel, one that gathers close all those who were meant to be forgotten, and refuses their erasure’ Maaza Mengiste, Guardian

‘A brilliant and important book for our times, by a wondrous writer’ Philippe Sands, New Statesman, Books of the Year

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…

‘One of the world’s most prominent postcolonial writers … He has consistently and with great compassion penetrated the effects of colonialism in East Africa and its effects on the lives of uprooted and migrating individuals’ Anders Olsson, chairman of the Nobel Committee

‘In book after book, he guides us through seismic historic moments and devastating societal ruptures while gently outlining what it is that keeps those families, friendships and loving spaces intact, if not fully whole’ Maaza Mengiste

‘Rarely in a lifetime can you open a book and find that reading it encapsulates the enchanting qualities of a love affair … One scarcely dares breathe while reading it for fear of breaking the enchantment’ The Times

Reviews

“Superb. . . . Afterlives is a celebration of a place and time when people held onto their own ways, and basked in ordinary joys even as outside forces conspired to take them away. . . . [Gurnah] is a novelist nonpareil, a master of the art form who understands human failings in conflicts both political and intimate — and how these shortcomings create afflictions from which nations and individuals continue to suffer, needlessly, generation after generation.” — New York Times Book Review

“At once a globe-spanning epic of European colonialism and an intimate look at village life in one of the many overlooked corners of the Earth. Both parts — reclamations of history and heart — are equally revelatory. . . . Gurnah’s greatest act of love and artistry [is] his ability to gather the fragments of broken lives and create a breathtaking mosaic in print.”—The Washington Post

“An appreciation for quiet, ordinary forms of heroism runs throughout. . . . One can take away lessons and meanings from this novel, yet such things are perhaps less significant than the sheer seeming realness of the characters, whose presences Mr. Gurnah has faithfully crafted into existence, with all of their dreaming, their sorrow and their resilience.”—Wall Street Journal

“A rich, detailed tapestry. . . . three separate storylines tangle together to probe the violence of European colonialism.” —TIME

“Afterlives follows its long arc to a point where reclamation is possible, where recognition of full personhood can once again be restored. . . . [Gurnah] constructs his latest magnificent novel so clearly and carefully that when his very last lines bring us back to love and kindness, we’re ready to pay attention.”—Los Angeles Times

“Epic and poignantly personal.”—Vanity Fair

“[A] sweeping epic. . . . it is the intimacy with which Gurnah renders his characters that makes it a heartrending and eye-opening standout.” —Oprah Daily

“A monumental, epic work of fiction, a story that transcends genres. It can be read as historical fiction, as an adventure novel, and, ultimately, as a love story.” —Pittsburgh City Paper

“This lyrical novel delves into the scars left by war, not just on the body and mind, but family and society too. We come to know and love Ilya and his sister Afiya, her lover Hamza, and the lives they’re desperately trying to create even as cascading conflicts threaten to tear them apart.”—Good Housekeeping

“Nobel laureate Gurnah’s latest is a multi-generational exploration of colonial violence and displacement in east Africa through the lives of three young people.”—The Millions

“A fascinating, necessary novel.” —Lit Hub

“Filled with human compassion and historical insight. . . . .A captivating, engrossing and edifying work of fiction.” —BookPage

“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)

“Impeccably written. . . . building a complex, character-based story that stretches over generations.”—Kirkus(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

“A work of extraordinary power, giving us a colonial world with utmost intimacy, capturing its cruelties and complexities, immersing us in vividly evoked characters, showing us moments of incredible tenderness and beauty, and quietly reordering our sense of history.” —Phil Klay, author of Redeployment and Missionaries

“Rarely in a lifetime can you open a book and find that reading it encapsulates the enchanting qualities of a love affair … One scarcely dares breathe while reading it for fear of breaking the enchantment.” —The Times (London)

“To read Afterlives is to be returned to the joy of storytelling as Gurnah takes us to the place where imagined lives collide with history.” —Aminatta Forna, author of Happiness

Author Biography

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 Los Angeles Times Book Prize), 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, England.