Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Paradise

By: Abdulrazak Gurnah
Narrated by: Ashley Zhangazha
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

Bloomsbury presents Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah, read by Ashley Zhangazha.

By the winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature
A BBC RADIO 4 Book at Bedtime
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE
_______________________
'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
_______________________
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.

©1994 Abdulrazak Gurnah (P)2022 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Admiring Silence cover art
Dottie cover art
A Madman's Diary, and Other Stories cover art
The Years cover art
To the Lighthouse cover art
Not So Stories cover art
The Dog of Tithwal cover art
The Rugmaker of Mazar e Sharif cover art
The Cup cover art
The Great Fortune cover art
The Temple of Fortuna cover art
The Awakening cover art
The Netanyahus cover art
A Man's Place cover art
Orphan Warriors cover art
The Gameshouse cover art

What listeners say about Paradise

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    9
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    10
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    9
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A top-class production!

It was great to listen again to this beautiful and atmospheric novel, and the reading is as good as the RNIB version that I loved so much when I first found it.
I am surprised to have waited so long for Audible to produce it, they having published ‘Aftermath’ and one of the others once Razak got the Nobel prize, but literature of this quality shouldn’t have had to wait so long.
Anyway, I highly recommend it as being both exquisitely written and a neat historical document.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant Evocations

This book evoked the sights, smells, sounds and tastes of its setting in East Africa so brilliantly. I also enjoyed learning about life in another time and place, especially about trading and the practices of debt repayment.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

I would not say this work was exceptional..

Adequate but not exceptional..compared to other Nobel Laureates ...I will try another of his books to see why he won the Nobel Prize

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!