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Desertion by Abdulrazak Gurnah
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Desertion

A Novel

A Novel

A Novel

A Novel

A Novel

By Abdulrazak Gurnah

By Abdulrazak Gurnah

By Abdulrazak Gurnah

By Abdulrazak Gurnah

By Abdulrazak Gurnah

By Abdulrazak Gurnah

By Abdulrazak Gurnah

By Abdulrazak Gurnah

By Abdulrazak Gurnah
Read by Damian Lynch

By Abdulrazak Gurnah
Read by Damian Lynch

Best Seller
Paperback $18.00

Sep 05, 2023 | ISBN 9780593541975

Large Print $32.00

Sep 05, 2023 | ISBN 9780593633656

Hardcover $30.00

Sep 05, 2023 | ISBN 9780593716557

Ebook $12.99

Sep 05, 2023 | ISBN 9780593541982

Audiobook Download $20.00

Sep 05, 2023 | 582 Minutes

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    About Desertion

    A masterwork by the 2021 Nobel Prize winner in Literature, in which the consequences of an illicit love affair reverberate from the heyday of the British empire to the aftermath of African independence

    Early one morning in 1899, an Englishman named Martin Pearce stumbles out of the desert into an East African coastal town and collapses at the feet of Hassanali, a local shopkeeper. When Hassanali’s sister, the beautiful and disillusioned Rehana, nurses Pearce back to health, a love affair sparks, with consequences that will ripple decades into the future, when another clandestine affair bursts into flame, with equally unforeseen and dramatic consequences. In this devastating and ingeniously spun tale, the Nobelist Abdulrazak Gurnah brilliantly dramatizes the personal and political legacies of colonialism.

    About Desertion

    Writing at the peak of his powers, Abdulrazak Gurnah gives us in Desertion a spellbinding novel of forbidden love and cultural upheaval, with consequences powerfully reverberating through three generations and across continents—from the heyday of the British empire to the aftermath of African independence.Early one morning in 1899, in a small, dilapidated town along the coast of Mombassa, a Muslim man, Hassanali, sets out for a mosque but doesn’t get there. Out of the desert stumbles an Englishman who collapses at Hassanali’s feet: Martin Pearce—writer, traveler, something of an Orientalist. Hassanali cares for Pearce until the Englishman is taken to the home of colonial officer Frederick Turner to recuperate. When Pearce returns to thank his Good Samaritan, he meets and is enraptured by Rehana, Hassanali’s sister—by her gorgeous eyes and tragic aura. And so begins the passionate, illicit love affair—two lives and cultures colliding—that informs the rich, finely woven tapestry of Desertion.Gurnah, who has been short-listed for the Booker Prize, deftly and dramatically evokes the personal and political scandals of empire, the weight of tradition—of religion and culture—in everyday lives, the role of women in Muslim society, the vicissitudes of love, the complexities of filial relationships, the inexorability of miscegenation, and the power of fiction to charm and to harm. Desertion is a highly achieved, riveting work of imagination, brimming with controlled figural inventiveness, psychological acuity, and moral complexity.

    About Desertion

    A masterwork by the 2021 Nobel Prize winner in Literature, in which the consequences of an illicit love affair reverberate from the heyday of the British empire to the aftermath of African independence

    Early one morning in 1899, an Englishman named Martin Pearce stumbles out of the desert into an East African coastal town and collapses at the feet of Hassanali, a local shopkeeper. When Hassanali’s sister, the beautiful and disillusioned Rehana, nurses Pearce back to health, a love affair sparks, with consequences that will ripple decades into the future, when another clandestine affair bursts into flame, with equally unforeseen and dramatic consequences. In this devastating and ingeniously spun tale, the Nobelist Abdulrazak Gurnah brilliantly dramatizes the personal and political legacies of colonialism.

    About Desertion

    A masterwork by the 2021 Nobel Prize winner in Literature, in which the consequences of an illicit love affair reverberate from the heyday of the British empire to the aftermath of African independence

    Early one morning in 1899, an Englishman named Martin Pearce stumbles out of the desert into an East African coastal town and collapses at the feet of Hassanali, a local shopkeeper. When Hassanali’s sister, the beautiful and disillusioned Rehana, nurses Pearce back to health, a love affair sparks, with consequences that will ripple decades into the future, when another clandestine affair bursts into flame, with equally unforeseen and dramatic consequences. In this devastating and ingeniously spun tale, the Nobelist Abdulrazak Gurnah brilliantly dramatizes the personal and political legacies of colonialism.

    About Desertion

    Writing at the peak of his powers, Abdulrazak Gurnah gives us in Desertion a spellbinding novel of forbidden love and cultural upheaval, with consequences powerfully reverberating through three generations and across continents—from the heyday of the British empire to the aftermath of African independence.

    Early one morning in 1899, in a small, dilapidated town along the coast of Mombassa, a Muslim man, Hassanali, sets out for a mosque but doesn’t get there. Out of the desert stumbles an Englishman who collapses at Hassanali’s feet: Martin Pearce—writer, traveler, something of an Orientalist. Hassanali cares for Pearce until
    the Englishman is taken to the home of colonial officer Frederick Turner to recuperate. When Pearce returns to thank his Good Samaritan, he meets and is enraptured by Rehana, Hassanali’s sister—by her gorgeous eyes and tragic aura. And so begins the passionate, illicit love affair—two lives and cultures colliding—that informs the rich, finely woven tapestry of Desertion.

    Gurnah, who has been short-listed for the Booker Prize, deftly and dramatically evokes the personal and political scandals of empire, the weight of tradition—of religion and culture—in everyday lives, the role of women in Muslim society, the vicissitudes of love, the complexities of filial relationships, the inexorability of miscegenation, and the power of fiction to charm and to harm. Desertion is a highly achieved, riveting work of imagination, brimming with controlled figural inventiveness, psychological acuity, and moral complexity.


    Cover art by Lubaina Himid/ Hollybush Gardens

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    By the Sea
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    See all books by Abdulrazak Gurnah

    Also by Abdulrazak Gurnah

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    See all books by Abdulrazak Gurnah

    About Abdulrazak Gurnah

    Abdulrazak Gurnah was born in Zanzibar in 1948 and teaches at the University of Kent. He is the author of six novels, including Paradise, which was short-listed for the Booker Prize and the Whitbread Award, and By the Sea, a… More about Abdulrazak Gurnah

    About Abdulrazak Gurnah

    Abdulrazak Gurnah was born in Zanzibar in 1948 and teaches at the University of Kent. He is the author of six novels, including Paradise, which was short-listed for the Booker Prize and the Whitbread Award, and By the Sea, a… More about Abdulrazak Gurnah

    About Abdulrazak Gurnah

    Abdulrazak Gurnah was born in Zanzibar in 1948 and teaches at the University of Kent. He is the author of six novels, including Paradise, which was short-listed for the Booker Prize and the Whitbread Award, and By the Sea, a… More about Abdulrazak Gurnah

    About Abdulrazak Gurnah

    Abdulrazak Gurnah was born in Zanzibar in 1948 and teaches at the University of Kent. He is the author of six novels, including Paradise, which was short-listed for the Booker Prize and the Whitbread Award, and By the Sea, a… More about Abdulrazak Gurnah

    About Abdulrazak Gurnah

    Abdulrazak Gurnah was born in Zanzibar in 1948 and teaches at the University of Kent. He is the author of six novels, including Paradise, which was short-listed for the Booker Prize and the Whitbread Award, and By the Sea, a… More about Abdulrazak Gurnah

    Product Details

    Category: Literary Fiction

    Paperback | $18.00
    Published by Riverhead Books
    Sep 05, 2023 | 336 Pages | 5-3/16 x 8 | ISBN 9780593541975

    Category: Literary Fiction

    Large Print | $32.00
    Published by Random House Large Print
    Sep 05, 2023 | 400 Pages | 6-1/8 x 9-1/4 | ISBN 9780593633656

    Category: Literary Fiction

    Hardcover | $30.00
    Published by Riverhead Books
    Sep 05, 2023 | 336 Pages | 6 x 9 | ISBN 9780593716557

    Category: Literary Fiction

    Ebook | $12.99
    Published by Riverhead Books
    Sep 05, 2023 | 336 Pages | ISBN 9780593541982

    Category: Literary Fiction | Audiobooks

    Audiobook Download | $20.00
    Published by Penguin Audio
    Sep 05, 2023 | 582 Minutes | ISBN 9780593682715

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    Praise

    “An admirable achievement. . . . A serious inquiry into the nature of love, race and empire.” –San Francisco Chronicle“Affecting. . . . Gurnah perfectly renders the breathless exhilaration of first love and his characters–pulled from a time and place that seem to come from firsthand experience–seem true to life.”–The Christian Science Monitor“Gurnah writes beautifully: The brief affair between Amin and Jamila all but burns on the page.”–Los Angeles Times Book Review“Here is a writer at the top of his form, who commands a strong sense of narrative, a meticulous eye for family dynamics, and an understanding of the corrosive psychology of colonialism.” –The Seattle Times“Beautiful, elegial. . . . As seductive as the Zanzibar shore it describes.” —The Boston Globe

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