Synopses & Reviews
From an acclaimed African writer, a novel about family, freedom, and loyalty.
When Bella learns of the murder of her beloved half brother by political extremists in Mogadiscio, shes in Rome. The two had different fathers but shared a Somali mother, from whom Bellas inherited her freewheeling ways. An internationally known fashion photographer, dazzling but aloof, she comes and goes as she pleases, juggling three lovers. But with her teenage niece and nephew effectively orphaned their mother abandoned them years agoshe feels an unfamiliar surge of protective feeling. Putting her life on hold, she journeys to Nairobi, where the two are in boarding school, uncertain whether she canor mustcome to their rescue. When their mother resurfaces, reasserting her maternal rights and bringing with her a gale of chaos and confusion that mirror the deepening political instability in the region, Bella has to decide how far she will go to obey the call of sisterly responsibility.
A new departure in theme and setting for the most important African novelist to emerge in the past twenty-five years” (The New York Review of Books) Hiding in Plain Sight, is a profound exploration of the tensions between freedom and obligation, the ways gender and sexual preference define us, and the unexpected paths by which the political disrupts the personal.
Review
"A literary vision both broad and deep, the vision of an exile and a patriot."
-The New York Times Book Review
"A brutal, beautiful, unforgettable unveiling of a volatile city and a complex woman 'risking her life in order to get the better of her loss.'"
-People
"This is an intriguing, poetically intense and deeply pleasurable read."
-Los Angeles Times
Review
"Often reads like a taut, tense thriller . . . a thought-provoking read as well as an absorbing look into a culture and a people in extreme circumstances."
Review
"Mesmerizing...A searing look at individuals caught in the chaos of anarchy." -- The Daily Beast
Review
"This timely book . . . is politically courageous and often gripping . . . Crossbones provides a sophisticated introduction to present-day Somalia, and to the circle of poverty and violence that continues to blight the country."
Review
"Harrowing without resorting to sensationalism, this highly topical final volume in Farahs's Past Imperfect trilogy should burnish his well- deserved reputation. It is dense, complex stuff, but his brave and imperfect characters are a pleasure to follow. [A] gripping but utterly humane thriller set in one of the least understood regions on earth."
Review
"Farah writes enthrallingly about his native Somalia. . . . Expect sharp insight into both human nature and secretarian strife, told in illuminating language free of cant."
Review
"[Farah] writes beautifully and prolifically about his native Somalia."
Review
"Nuruddin Farah, the most important African novelist to emerge in the past twenty-five years."andnbsp;andmdash;
The New York Review of Books
"Itandrsquo;s easy to see why Nuruddin Farahandrsquo;s name keeps coming up as a likely recipient of a Nobel Prize in Literature."andnbsp;andmdash;Newsweek
andnbsp;
Review
"Politically courageous and often gripping...
Crossbones provides a sophisticated introduction to present-day Somalia, and to the circle of poverty and violence that continues to blight the country." –
The New York Times Book Review "Mesmerizing... A searing look at individuals caught in the chaos of anarchy." –The Daily Beast
“A fiercely critical, ruefully funny, profoundly compassionate portrait... [that] humanizes the dire complexities inherent to a place fractured by perpetual violence, corruption, outside exploitation, bone-deep poverty, and fanaticism. A writer of charm, wit, conscience, and penetrating vision, Farah is a commanding and essential global writer.” –Booklist
"Often reads like a taut, tense thriller... a thought-provoking read as well as an absorbing look into a culture and a people in extreme circumstances." –The Philadelphia Inquirer
“Farah has become the voice of the Somalian diaspora, telling stories of political, religious, and family conflict without sentimentality... Like Conrad, Farah proves a master of his adopted language, enhancing his narratives with proverbs and instances of institutionalized irrationality.” –Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Harrowing without resorting to sensationalism... It is dense, complex stuff, but [Farah's] brave and imperfect characters are a pleasure to follow. [A] gripping but utterly humane thriller set in one of the least understood regions on earth." –Kirkus Reviews
“Combines an intimate dissection of power within the family with a strong dose of skepticism about the machinations of national and global power.” –The Economist
“Farah's accomplishment is, through art, showing us both the value and the devaluing of life through the machinations of historical, political and social power.” –The Minneapolis Star-Tribune
“Adopts an almost thriller-like realism to give an account of modern-day Somalia... Crossbones is well worth the read.” –The Boston Globe
“Vivid and detailed... [Farah’s] understanding of human relationships is spot on, as are the twists and turns in this suspenseful drama.” –Ebony
"Farah writes enthrallingly about his native Somalia... Expect sharp insight into both human nature and secretarian strife, told in illuminating language free of cant." –Library Journal
"[Farah] writes beautifully and prolifically about his native Somalia." –TheMillions.com
Review
Praise for Crossbones
“Politically courageous and often gripping.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Often reads like a taut, tense thriller . . . a thought-provoking read as well as an absorbing look into a culture and a people in extreme circumstances.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer
Review
Praise for Hiding in Plain Sight:
“This novel — Farah's 12th — takes us deep into the domestic life of a sophisticated African family, with great emotional effect… Each of the kids…becomes starkly real in their intelligence, ingenuity, anger, and grief. Even their outrageous mother (and her selfish choices) seems credible …This family, our families, Africa and Europe and America, have never seemed closer in the way we live now — and this engaging novel, from its explosive beginning to its complex yet uplifting last scenes, shows us why.” —Alan Cheuse, NPR
“Absorbing and provocative… [Farahs] characters are given heft through personal histories and anecdotes, and he writes evocatively about everything from Nairobi traffic to Kenyan game reserves to, importantly, how Somalis are seen not just through the eyes of others, but through their own.” (4 stars) —USA Today
“Hiding in Plain Sight may begin with a terrorist attack…but this is not a novel about violence...The rewards of reading Hiding in Plain Sight lie in Farahs sensitive exploration of grief and his depiction of a familys love for one another…Farah is particularly adept at evoking the way in which the sight of a familiar face or place can trigger painful memories and how comfort can come to us from unexpected sources.” —New York Times Book Review
"If [The Kite Runner] was up your alley, make sure to give this a go. Farah's 12th novel spans countries, demographics, and histories, and is a pseudo-thriller that is boldly political and far-reaching." -- Martha Stewart.com, Winter Book Club Pick
“[Hiding in Plain Sight] …rattles the cage of conventional thinking about family, gender, and sexuality as they apply to the African context. At once conscientious and demanding, nuanced and aggressive, it is a novel that is sure to be featured in the year-end awards lists.” —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Farah…has long been a literary emissary of his native land, which political strife and civil war have turned into a nation of refugees…The whole novel, in fact, might be read as a sort of map of displaced people….[and] the practicalities and mechanics of going on, conducting grief — as much for a lost homeland as for a brother and father — out of hiding and into the plain, often all too general, business of everyday life.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Farah… puts his skilled character development on display in this latest work…[and] does a fine job illustrating the competing societal forces in African culture — from the cosmopolitan nightlife of Nairobi to the pervasive violence and oppression in places like Somalia…an engaging read.” —The NY Daily News
“A rich exploration of political and social crises…[and] a sensitive story about living in the shadow of grief, learning to forgive and trying to answer the question, “What does it mean to be Somali in this day and age?” —Washington Post
“True to Farahs style, Hiding in Plain Sight is strange and haunting... His writing borders on the poetic…Scenes of everyday life…lull us into believing the story could be unfolding anywhere, until were jolted by mentions of blast-proof windows next to the flatscreen TV or metal detectors at the mall entrance…[Hiding in Plain Sight] adds to an impressive four-decade body of work that has helped illuminate a country and culture that might otherwise have remained hidden behind the fog of war.” —Toronto Star
“Somalian writer Nuruddin Farah is known for exploring complex themes and emotions in his books and his 12th novel, "Hiding In Plain Sight" is no exception…[the novel] asks bold questions: What do you do when obligation and desire collide? How far do familial obligations go? How do you move on from a deep tragedy? It also asks questions about what it means to be Somalian today, admist the chaos...If you are looking to spend [a] rainy weekend curled up with a book that…will ultimately leave you feeling enlightened, you can't go wrong with this one.” —NY Metro
"Farahs powerful story of a shattered family makes vivid the human repercussions of political chaos and violence."—BBC.com
“Gracefully pulling together social issues with the seismography of a single family and underscoring it all with hints at the Somali diaspora of the 1990s, Farah once again offers a complex look at the struggle and joy of finding home” —Shelf Awareness
“With delicacy and compassion, Farah…fashions a domestic chamber piece where motives, yearnings and regrets intersect among these complex, volatile personalities against a wider backdrop of religious and cultural conflict, social and political upheaval, and even "family values" in post-millennial Africa …. An unassuming triumph of straightforward, topical storytelling that both adds to and augments a body of work worthy of a Nobel Prize.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred)
Praise for Crossbones
“Politically courageous and often gripping.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Often reads like a taut, tense thriller . . . a thought-provoking read as well as an absorbing look into a culture and a people in extreme circumstances.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer
Synopsis
A gripping new novel from today's most important African novelist (The New York Times Book Review), the internationally acclaimed author of North of Dawn
A dozen years after his last visit, Jeebleh returns to his beloved Mogadiscio to see old friends. He is accompanied by his son-in-law, Malik, a journalist intent on covering the region's ongoing turmoil. What greets them at first is not the chaos Jeebleh remembers, however, but an eerie calm enforced by ubiquitous white-robed figures bearing whips.
Meanwhile, Malik's brother, Ahl, has arrived in Puntland, the region notorious as a pirates' base. Ahl is searching for his stepson, Taxliil, who has vanished from Minneapolis, apparently recruited by an imam allied to Somalia's rising religious insurgency. The brothers' efforts draw them closer to Taxliil and deeper into the fabric of the country, even as Somalis brace themselves for an Ethiopian invasion. Jeebleh leaves Mogadiscio only a few hours before the borders are breached and raids descend from land and sea. As the uneasy quiet shatters and the city turns into a battle zone, the brothers experience firsthand the derailments of war.
Completing the trilogy that began with Links and Knots, Crossbones is a fascinating look at individuals caught in the maw of zealotry, profiteering, and political conflict, by one of our most highly acclaimed international writers.
Synopsis
From the internationally revered author of Links comes "a beautiful, hopeful novel about one woman's return to war-ravaged Mogadishu" (Time) Called "one of the most sophisticated voices in modern fiction" (The New York Review of Books), Nuruddin Farah is widely recognized as a literary genius. He proves it yet again with Knots, the story of a woman who returns to her roots and discovers much more than herself. Born in Somalia but raised in North America, Cambara flees a failed marriage by traveling to Mogadishu. And there, amid the devastation and brutality, she finds that her most unlikely ambitions begin to seem possible. Conjuring the unforgettable extremes of a fractured Muslim culture and the wayward Somali state through the eyes of a strong, compelling heroine, Knots is another Farah masterwork.
Synopsis
A gripping new novel from today's "most important African novelist" (The New York Times Book Review)
A dozen years after his last visit, Jeebleh returns to his beloved Mogadiscio to see old friends. He is accompanied by his son-in-law, Malik, a journalist intent on covering the region's ongoing turmoil. What greets them at first is not the chaos Jeebleh remembers, however, but an eerie calm enforced by ubiquitous white-robed figures bearing whips.
Meanwhile, Malik's brother, Ahl, has arrived in Puntland, the region notorious as a pirates' base. Ahl is searching for his stepson, Taxliil, who has vanished from Minneapolis, apparently recruited by an imam allied to Somalia's rising religious insurgency. The brothers' efforts draw them closer to Taxliil and deeper into the fabric of the country, even as Somalis brace themselves for an Ethiopian invasion. Jeebleh leaves Mogadiscio only a few hours before the borders are breached and raids descend from land and sea. As the uneasy quiet shatters and the city turns into a battle zone, the brothers experience firsthand the derailments of war.
Completing the trilogy that began with Links and Knots, Crossbones is a fascinating look at individuals caught in the maw of zealotry, profiteering, and political conflict, by one of our most highly acclaimed international writers.
Synopsis
Gripping, provocative, and revelatory, Links is a novel that will stand as a classic of modern world literature. Jeebleh is returning to Mogadiscio, Somalia, for the first time in twenty years. But this is not a nostalgia tripandmdash;his last residence there was a jail cell. And who could feel nostalgic for a city like this? U.S. troops have come and gone, and the decimated city is ruled by clan warlords and patrolled by qaat-chewing gangs who shoot civilians to relieve their adolescent boredom. Diverted in his pilgrimage to visit his motherandrsquo;s grave, Jeebleh is asked to investigate the abduction of the young daughter of one of his closest friendandrsquo;s family. But he learns quickly that any act in this city, particularly an act of justice, is much more complicated than he might have imagined.
Synopsis
Written with complete conviction from a woman's point of view, Nuruddin Farah's spare, shocking first novel savagely attacks the traditional values of his people yet is also a haunting celebration of the unbroken human spirit. Ebla, an orphan of eighteen, runs away from her nomadic encampment in rural Somalia when she discovers that her grandfather has promised her in marriage to an older man. But even after her escape to Mogadishu, she finds herself as powerless and dependent on men as she was out in the bush. As she is propelled through servitude, marriage, poverty, and violence, Ebla has to fight to retain her identity in a world where women are "sold like cattle."
Synopsis
Gifts is a beguiling tale of a Somali family, its strong matriarch, Duniya, and its past wounds that refuse to heal. As the story unfolds, Somalia is ravaged by war, drought, disease, and famine, prompting industrialized nations to offer monetary aid—"gifts" to the so-called Third World. Farah weaves these threads together into a tapestry of dreams, memories, family lore, folktales, and journalistic accounts.
Synopsis
This first novel in Nuruddin Farah's Blood in the Sun trilogy tells the story of Askar, a man coming of age in the turmoil of modern Africa. With his father a victim of the bloody Ethiopian civil war and his mother dying the day of his birth, Askar is taken in and raised by a woman named Misra amid the scandal, gossip, and ritual of a small African village. As an adolescent, Askar goes to live in Somalia's capital, where he strives to find himself just as Somalia struggles for national identity.
Synopsis
It is the week before the outbreak of the civil war in Somalia. Kalaman, a successful young businessman in Mogadiscio receives an unexpected house guest—the wild and sexually adventurous Sholoongo, his childhood crush returned from America. She announces that she intends to have his baby. Confronted by this dangerous interruption from his past, Kalaman starts to investigate his family's history, and uncovers the startling key to his own conception. Hailed by Salman Rushdie as "one of the finest contemporary African novelists," Farah writes in a rhythmical, sensual prose reminiscent of García Márquez's best fiction. Evoking the beauty and tragedy of Africa, Secrets is a remarkable portrait of a family disintegrating like its country, its ties dissolved by exposed lies and secrets.
Synopsis
From the internationally revered author of Links comes "a beautiful, hopeful novel about one woman's return to war-ravaged Mogadishu" (Time) Called "one of the most sophisticated voices in modern fiction" (The New York Review of Books), Nuruddin Farah is widely recognized as a literary genius. He proves it yet again with Knots, the story of a woman who returns to her roots and discovers much more than herself. Born in Somalia but raised in North America, Cambara flees a failed marriage by traveling to Mogadishu. And there, amid the devastation and brutality, she finds that her most unlikely ambitions begin to seem possible. Conjuring the unforgettable extremes of a fractured Muslim culture and the wayward Somali state through the eyes of a strong, compelling heroine, Knots is another Farah masterwork.
Synopsis
A gripping new novel from today's "most important African novelist". (The New York Times Review of Books)
A dozen years after his last visit, Jeebleh returns to his beloved Mogadiscio to see old friends. He is accompanied by his son-in-law, Malik, a journalist intent on covering the region's ongoing turmoil. What greets them at first is not the chaos Jeebleh remembers, however, but an eerie calm enforced by ubiquitous white-robed figures bearing whips.
Meanwhile, Malik's brother, Ahl, has arrived in Puntland, the region notorious as a pirates' base. Ahl is searching for his stepson, Taxliil, who has vanished from Minneapolis, apparently recruited by an imam allied to Somalia's rising religious insurgency. The brothers' efforts draw them closer to Taxliil and deeper into the fabric of the country, even as Somalis brace themselves for an Ethiopian invasion. Jeebleh leaves Mogadiscio only a few hours before the borders are breached and raids descend from land and sea. As the uneasy quiet shatters and the city turns into a battle zone, the brothers experience firsthand the derailments of war.
Completing the trilogy that began with Links and Knots, Crossbones is a fascinating look at individuals caught in the maw of zealotry, profiteering, and political conflict, by one of our most highly acclaimed international writers.
Synopsis
Gripping, provocative, and revelatory, Links is a novel that will stand as a classic of modern world literature. Jeebleh is returning to Mogadiscio, Somalia, for the first time in twenty years. But this is not a nostalgia tripandmdash;his last residence there was a jail cell. And who could feel nostalgic for a city like this? U.S. troops have come and gone, and the decimated city is ruled by clan warlords and patrolled by qaat-chewing gangs who shoot civilians to relieve their adolescent boredom. Diverted in his pilgrimage to visit his motherandrsquo;s grave, Jeebleh is asked to investigate the abduction of the young daughter of one of his closest friendandrsquo;s family. But he learns quickly that any act in this city, particularly an act of justice, is much more complicated than he might have imagined.
About the Author
Nuruddin Farah is the author of eleven novels, most recently Links and Knots, in the trilogy completed by Crossbones. His novels have been translated into seventeen languages and he has won numerous awards, including the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, "widely regarded as the most prestigious international literary award after the Nobel" (The New York Times). His work has appeared in numerous publications, including The New Yorker, and Granta, both of which excerpted Crossbones. Born in Baidoa, Somalia, Farah divides his time between Cape Town, South Africa, and Minneapolis, where he holds a chair at the University of Minnesota.