Folio. VIETI IN DERIVA.

Ilyas comes home after years in Germany’s colonial forces. Troops took him from his family as a child. His parents are now gone. Strangers have raised his sister, Afiya.

Hamza too comes back from service in the colonial army. He was sold into it, not seized. Hurt and poor, he seeks work, safety, and Afiya’s love. Their lives draw close. The threat of a new war puts their hopes at risk.

Abdulrazak Gurnah’s novel looks at war, loss, and the search for a home. It is set in the past. It suits those who read fiction about colonial rule and its human costs. This edition is in Romanian. It is part of Litera’s Folio series. Andreea Nastase translated it from the English original, Afterlives.