We Need New Names: From the twice Booker-shortlisted author of GLORY
Noviolet Bulawayo
**SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2013**
Ten-year-old Darling has a choice: it's down, or out
'To play the country-game, we have to choose a country. Everybody wants to be the USA and Britain and Canada and Australia and Switzerland and them. Nobody wants to be rags of countries like Congo, like Somalia, like Iraq, like Sudan, like Haiti and not even this one we live in - who wants to be a terrible place of hunger and things falling apart?'
Darling and her friends live in a shanty called Paradise, which of course is no such thing. It isn't all bad, though. There's mischief and adventure, games of Find bin Laden, stealing guavas, singing Lady Gaga at the tops of their voices.
They dream of the paradises of America, Dubai, Europe, where Madonna and Barack Obama and David Beckham live. For Darling, that dream will come true. But, like the thousands of people all over the world trying to forge new lives far from home, Darling finds this new paradise brings its own set of challenges - for her and also for those she's left behind.
'Extraordinary' Daily Telegraph
'A debut that blends wit and pain... Heartrending...wonderfully original' Independent
'Sometimes shocking, often heartbreaking but also pulsing with colour and energy' The Times
*NoViolet's new book Glory has been Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2022 and is out now*
Product Details
About Noviolet Bulawayo
Reviews for We Need New Names: From the twice Booker-shortlisted author of GLORY
Mukoma Wa Ngugi
The Rise of the African Novel
Bulawayo’s novel is not just a stunning piece of literary craftsmanship but also a novel that helps elucidate today’s world
Daily Telegraph
The challenging rhythm and infectious language of NoViolet Bulawayo's emotionally articulate novel turns a familar tale of immigrant displacement into a heroic ballad. Bulawayo's courage and her literary scope shine out from this outstanding debut
Daily Mail
Darling is 10 when we first meet her, and the voice Ms. Bulawayo has fashioned for her is utterly distinctive — by turns unsparing and lyrical, unsentimental and poetic, spiky and meditative... stunning novel... remarkably talented author
New York Times
Often heartbreaking, but also pulsing with colour and energy
The Times (Saturday Review)
Extraordinary
Daily Telegraph
Creates a fictional world that is immediate, fresh, and identifies the arrival of a talented writer
Sunday Times (Culture)
NoViolet Bulawayo uses words potently, blending brutality and lyricism in her unflinching, bittersweet story of displacement
Observer
A really talented and ambitious author
Guardian
A debut that blends wit and pain... heartrending... wonderfully original
Independent