seaside

★ 2021 Nobel Prize-winning writer Gurner's masterpiece

★ Longlisted for the 2001 Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Los Angeles Times Book Award

★ Two Lonely and Cold Hearts Two helpless and desperate strangers complete their redemption with blood and tears in a small seaside town

★ Special collection of the full unabridged translation of Gurner's award-winning speech, a glimpse of the secrets of growth and writing across two continents and the blending of multiple civilizations

"The Seaside" is one of the masterpieces of the 2021 Nobel Prize-winning writer Gurner. The novel tells the story of Saleh Omar, a middle-aged man who came to the UK from Zanzibar to seek political asylum at the end of the 20th century. After arriving in England, Omar was arranged to live in a small seaside town temporarily. Because he used the name of Rajab Sherbang, his former hometown enemy, when entering the country, his son Latif came to the door, which led to the misunderstanding between the two families. Gratitude and hatred. Together in a hostile foreign land, Omar and Latif gradually open up, and the truth finally emerges...

The novel uses flashbacks and interludes to explain the reasons why the protagonist Omar left his hometown, which leads to various memories, ranging from family grievances to Zanzibar's colonial independence history. The constant change of narrative angles, the overlapping of memory and forgetting, form Gurner's unique narrative art. "By the Sea" reveals Gurner's deep concern for the plight of refugees, especially those caught between cultures.