Paradise

By the winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature

A BBC RADIO 4 Book at Bedtime

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE

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'A poetic and vividly conjured book about Africa and the brooding power of the unknown' Independent on Sunday

'Gurnah evokes his world in poetic prose which is pure and lucid - a small paradise in itself ... The pleasures, sadnesses and losses in all the shining facets of this book are lingering and exquisite' Guardian

'An obliterated world is enthrallingly retrieved' Sunday Times

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Born in East Africa, Yusuf has few qualms about the journey he is to make. It never occurs to him to ask why he is accompanying Uncle Aziz or why the trip has been organised so suddenly, and he does not think to ask when he will be returning. But the truth is that his 'uncle' is a rich and powerful merchant and Yusuf has been pawned to him to pay his father's debts.

Paradise is a rich tapestry of myth, dreams and Biblical and Koranic tradition, the story of a young boy's coming of age against the backdrop of an Africa increasingly corrupted by colonialism and violence.