Bloomsbury Desertion Gurnah Abdulrazak

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

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

For seven-year-old Salim, the pillars upholding his small universe – his indifferent father, his adored uncle, his treasured books, the daily routines of government school and Koran lessons – seem unshakeable • But it is the 1970s, and the winds of change are blowing through Zanzibar: suddenly Salim's father is gone, and the island convulses with violence and corruption the wake of a revolution. It will only be years later, making his way through an alien and hostile London, that Salim will begin to understand the shame and exploitation festering at the heart of his family's history

He thinks, as he escapes from Zanzibar, that he will probably never return, and yet the dream of studying in England matters above that • Things do not happen quite as he imagined – the school where he teaches is cramped and violent, he forgets how it feels to belong. But there is Emma, beautiful, rebellious Emma, who turns away from her white, middle-class roots to offer him love and bear him a child. And in return he spins stories of his home and keeps her a secret from his family • Twenty years later, when the barriers at last come down in Zanzibar, he is able and compelled to go back. What he discovers there, in a story potent with truth, will change the entire vision of his life

On a late November afternoon Saleh Omar arrives at Gatwick Airport from Zanzibar, a far away island in the Indian Ocean. With him he has a small bag in which lies his most precious possession - a mahogany box containing incense. He used to own a furniture shop, have a house and be a husband and father. Now he is an asylum seeker from paradise; silence his only protection • Meanwhile Latif Mahmud, someone intimately connected with Saleh's past, lives quietly alone in his London flat. When Saleh and Latif meet in an English seaside town, a story is unravelled. It is a story of love and betrayal, seduction and possession, and of a people desperately trying to find stability amidst the maelstrom of their times

Abbas has never told anyone about his past; about what happened before he was a sailor on the high seas, before he met his wife Maryam outside a Boots in Exeter, before they settled into a quiet life in Norwich with their children, Jamal and Hanna. Now, at the age of sixty-three, he suffers a collapse that renders him bedbound and unable to speak about things he thought he would one day have to • Jamal and Hanna have grown up and gone out into the world. They were both born in England but cannot shake a sense of apartness. Hanna calls herself Anna now, and has just moved to a new city to be near her boyfriend. She feels the relationship is headed somewhere serious, but the words have not yet been spoken out loud. Jamal, the listener of the family, moves into a student house and is captivated by a young woman with dark-blue eyes and her own, complex story to tell

Dear Catherine, he began. Here I sit, making a meal out of asking you to dinner. I don't really know how to do it. To have cultural integrity, I would have to send my aunt to speak, discreetly, to your aunt, who would then speak to your mother, who would speak to my mother, who would speak to my father, who would speak to me and then approach your mother, who would then approach you • Demoralised by small persecutions and the squalor and poverty of his life, Daud takes refuge in his imagination. He composes wry, sardonic letters hectoring friends and enemies, and invents a lurid colonial past for every old man he encounters. His greatest solace is cricket and the symbolic defeat of the empire at the hands of the mighty West Indies • Although subject to attacks of bitterness and remorse, his captivating sense of humour never deserts him as he struggles to come to terms with the horror of his past and the meaning of his pilgrimage to England

The ultimate Spring activity book, packed full of activities and stickers for hours of holiday fun. Help the rabbits through the maze, decorate the eggs, find the hiding chick and much more! Bloomsbury Activity Books is an exciting new Bloomsbury brand designed to provide hours of colouring, doodling, stickering and activity fun for boys and girls alike. Every book includes enchanting, bright and beautiful illustrations which children and parents will find very hard to resist. Perfect for providing entertainment at home or on the move!

This beautiful activity book is packed full of colourful illustrations and stickers to help you write fantastic fairytales! The first sentence of every story has been written for you, but you need to decide what will happen and how your amazing tales will end. Also features two completed stories to add fun stickers to. Bloomsbury Activity Books provide hours of colouring, doodling, stickering and activity fun for boys and girls alike. Every book includes enchanting, bright and beautiful illustrations which children and parents will find very hard to resist. Perfect for providing entertainment at home or on the move!

Say hello to Santa and his reindeer in this magical carry-around Christmas book. Designed with a handle, this book will make learning first words fun for your baby! Bloomsbury's Carry and Play board books are packed full of bright and beautiful illustrations which young children will adore. The simple, engaging text introduces them to a variety of seasonal topics, including Christmas, Halloween and Easter, and includes first words such as chick, snowman, cat

This wonderful activity book is bursting with colourful illustrations and stickers to help you write your own magical fairy stories! The first sentence of every story has been written for you, but you need to decide what will happen and how your amazing tales will end. Also features two completed stories to add fun stickers to. Bloomsbury Activity Books provide hours of colouring, stickering and activity fun for boys and girls alike. Every book includes enchanting, bright and beautiful illustrations which children and parents will find very hard to resist. Perfect for providing entertainment at home or on the move!

Daniel knows that his mum was very ill once – mentally ill. But he doesn't like to think about it – and anyway, she's fine now. She's even landed a big new job as a head teacher. The problem is, she's head of his new school! It's so embarrassing – everyone is going to make fun of him • But then things get even tougher for Daniel. With his father abroad, his mum stops taking the medication that prevents her illness coming back. As his mum starts to act like she's from another planet, Daniel realises that something is terribly wrong. And that he is the only person who can help her … • Earth to Daniel comes to Bloomsbury for a refreshed cover look and renewed marketing and publicity to bring new readers to this quirky, lovely modern classic • Moving, funny and totally relatable, Earth to Daniel is a story about looking out for yourself, looking out for your family and finding friends in unlikely places