Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
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.
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.
Memory of Departure cover art

Memory of Departure

By: Abdulrazak Gurnah
Narrated by: Faaiz Mbelizi
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£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.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Pilgrims Way cover art
Dottie cover art
Admiring Silence cover art
Watch Us Dance cover art
Elena Knows cover art
The Water Thief cover art
A Tall History of Sugar cover art
Out of the Silence cover art
The Lover cover art
Nervous Conditions cover art
The Black Mountains cover art
The Far Field cover art
The Peregrine cover art
Ravenous cover art
The Eighth Life cover art

Summary

The debut novel by the winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature

Vehement, comic and shrewd, Abdulrazak Gurnah’s first novel is an unwavering contemplation of East African coastal life

Poverty and depravity wreak havoc on Hassan Omar’s family. Amid great hardship he decides to escape.

The arrival of independence brings new upheavals as well as the betrayal of the promise of freedom. The new government, fearful of an exodus of its most able men, discourages young people from travelling abroad and refuses to release examination results. Deprived of a scholarship, Hassan travels to Nairobi to stay with a wealthy uncle, in the hope that he will release his mother’s rightful share of the family inheritance.

The collision of past secrets and future hopes, the compound of fear and frustration, beauty and brutality, create a fierce tale of undeniable power.
____________________
‘Gurnah is a master storyteller' FINANCIAL TIMES

'Exile has given Gurnah a perspective on the “balance between things” that is astonishing, superb' OBSERVER

'A captivating storyteller' GUARDIAN

'Gurnah etches with biting incisiveness the experiences of immigrants exposed to contempt, hostility or patronising indifference on their arrival in Britain' SPECTATOR

©1987 Abdulrazak Gurnah (P)2022 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Critic reviews

"Gurnah writes with wonderful insight about family relationships and he folds in the layers of history with elegance and warmth." (The Times)

What listeners say about Memory of Departure

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

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