Nobody writes about the world we call postcolonial like Abdulrazak Gurnah. His novels are uncompromising, but also stubbornly humane. They come at their subjects with open eyes, and we need what they see

Juan Gabriel Vásquez

Another glittering tapestry of a novel from a master storyteller of our times

Irish Times

A storyteller of understated brilliance … A poignant portrait of love, friendship and betrayal … Powerful, affecting and provocative, Theft is a vital addition to Gurnah's remarkable body of work, a novel steeped in heartbreak and loss but one that ultimately refuses despair

Guardian

Nothing about human behaviour surprises Gurnah, and in reading his wise new novel with its gentle and beautiful ending, we the readers become a bit less judgemental, and more ready to understand what it means to struggle, to dare, to love – what it means to be human

Elif Shafak, New Statesman, Book of the Day

The intricate narrative skilfully reflects the complexities of a post-colonial world in which there are fewer and fewer certainties

Mail on Sunday

A quietly powerful demonstration of storytelling mastery, at once coming-of-age chamber piece and wide-angled post-colonial panorama … narrated in a quicksilver style that gives you the pleasurable sense that you're putty in the hands of a warm yet clear-eyed authorial intelligence … The conclusion – crackling with jeopardy, ultimately cathartic – moves all Theft's patiently assembled plotlines into place for a riveting denouement

Observer