By the Sea

Delve into a story of exile, memory, and forgiveness with Abdulrazak Gurnah’s *By the Sea*. Saleh Omar, an elderly asylum seeker from Zanzibar, arrives at Gatwick Airport with a fake passport and a small bag of incense. He settles into a quiet, precarious life in an English seaside town, hoping to leave his past behind. But fate intervenes when he meets Latif Mahmud, a younger man from his homeland with whom he shares a bitter, entangled history. As their stories unfold, Gurnah masterfully explores the complexities of the refugee experience and the enduring power of the past. A quiet, elegant, and deeply affecting novel.