Character list from
Theft by Abdulrazak Gurnah
Well narrated by Ashley Zhangazha
Riverhead Books, 2025; audiobook: Penguin Random House Audio, 2025.
Full review: Theft by Abdulrazak Gurnah⩘
Character list
- Rafik
- Raya
- Hafidh, Raya's father's older brother
- Bakari Abbas, husband that Raya's father and uncle found for her
- Karim, Raya's son
- Unguja, Raya's home
- Suleiman, Hafidh's son
- Ali, Karim's older brother by a different mother
- Mamkuu, Ali's mother, divorced from Bakari Abbas
- Jalila, Ali's wife
- Haji ("Mganga"), Raya's new husband in Dar es Salaam
- "Habibi" (beloved), Haji's name for Raya
- Old Juma, Haji and Raya's gardener
- Farida, Haji and Raya's housekkeper
- Ibrahim, Ali and Jalila's son
- Badar Ismail
- Uncle Othman (Baba), man in whose house Badar is left
- The Mistress, woman Badar works for (he calls her Bibi), Raya (Bi Raya)
- Mohamed Rashidi, Badar is taken in by him and his wife after his own mother died of cholera; he takes Badar to Uncle Othman
- Sefu and Omari, Badar's half-brothers
- Aysha, Badar's half-sister
- Thabit, shop keeper in Badar's village
- Ismail, Badar's absent father
- Bwana Waziri, old smoking man in the house of Mistress
- Bwana Haji, the husband of the Mistress
- Fadhili, the grocer for the household of the Mistress and Bwana Haji Hamisi, owner of the fresh produce shop
- Fauzia binti Musa
- Baba Musa, Fauzia's father
- Khadija, Fauzia's mother
- Hawa, schoolmate of Fauzia
- Aunt Yasmin, Uncle Kassim, and their baby, Hawa's relatives who were killed in a bus accident
- Aunt Mwana, Hawa's aunt who they visit in Dar es Salaam
- Zubeda, Aunt Mwana's helper (servant)
- Uncle Saleh, Aunt Mwana's husband
- Tamarind Hotel, where Badar becomes a trainee after moving in with Karim and Fauzia
- Assistant Manager Issa, for whom Badar works
- Habib, the breakfast cook
- Iddi, Habib's assistant
- Maulidi and Chambo, morning cleaners
- Bwana Sharif Makame, manager at the Tamarind Hotel and major share owner Rhamadhani, the night clerk
- Hakim, owner of house Badar rents a room in
- Idris, rents the other room in Hakim's house
- Maryam, Idris's new wife a few years later
- Maria Caffrey, British guest at the Tamarind Hotel whose stay was booked by a travel agency in Dar es Salaam, Director, Relief Exchange International, Volunteer Recruitment
- Sefu, man who meets Maria Caffrey at the hotel
- Geraldine Bruno, another guest who Maria Caffrey books a room for some months later Masri Hotel, new hotel being refurbished by Bwana Sharif Makame and a consortium he was working with
Full review: Theft by Abdulrazak Gurnah⩘
