The Old Drift: A Novel

ISBN: 1101907150

Author: Serpell, Namwali

Condition: Used

A dazzling debut, establishing Namwali Serpell as a writer on the world stage.-Salman Rushdie, The New York Times Book ReviewA BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Dwight Garner, The New York Times The New York Times Book Review Time NPR The Atlantic BuzzFeed Tordotcom Kirkus Reviews BookPageWINNER: The Arthur C. Clarke Award The Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award The Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Fiction The Windham-Campbell Prizes for FictionOne of The Atlantics Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years1904. On the banks of the Zambezi River, a few miles from the majestic Victoria Falls, there is a colonial settlement called The Old Drift. In a smoky room at the hotel across the river, an Old Drifter named Percy M. Clark, foggy with fever, makes a mistake that entangles the fates of an Italian hotelier and an African busboy. This sets off a cycle of unwitting retribution between three Zambian families (black, white, brown) as they collide and converge over the course of the century, into the present and beyond. As the generations pass, their lives-their triumphs, errors, losses and hopes-emerge through a panorama of history, fairytale, romance and science fiction.From a woman covered with hair and another plagued with endless tears, to forbidden love affairs and fiery political ones, to homegrown technological marvels like Afronauts, microdrones and viral vaccines, this gripping, unforgettable novel is a testament to our yearning to create and cross borders, and a meditation on the slow, grand passage of time.Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Ray Bradbury Prize Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel PrizeAn intimate, brainy, gleaming epic . . . This is a dazzling book, as ambitious as any first novel published this decade.-Dwight Garner, The New York TimesA founding epic in the vein of Virgils Aeneid . . . thoughin its sprawling size, its flavor of picaresque comedy and its fusion of family lore with national politics it more resembles Salman Rushdies Midnights Children.-The Wall Street JournalA story that intertwines strangers into families, which we'll follow for a century, magic into everyday moments, and the story of a nation, Zambia.-NPR

• Award Recipient: Recognized for excellence | Paperback Format: Lightweight and portable | Ebook Version: Digital reading experience | Los Angeles Times Ray Bradbury Prize Finalist: Notable mention in prestigious award | Center for Fiction First Novel Prize Longlist: Included in esteemed list of debut novels