Black Mamba Boy

A Novel

Fiction & Literature, Military, Literary, Historical
Cover of the book Black Mamba Boy by Nadifa Mohamed, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Nadifa Mohamed ISBN: 9781429979795
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Publication: August 3, 2010
Imprint: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Language: English
Author: Nadifa Mohamed
ISBN: 9781429979795
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication: August 3, 2010
Imprint: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Language: English

Yemen, 1935. Jama is a "market boy," a half-feral child scavenging with his friends in the dusty streets of a great seaport. For Jama, life is a thrilling carnival, at least when he can fill his belly. When his mother—alternately raging and loving—dies young, she leaves him only an amulet stuffed with one hundred rupees. Jama decides to spend her life's meager savings on a search for his never-seen father; the rumors that travel along clan lines report that he is a driver for the British somewhere in the north. So begins Jama's extraordinary journey of more than a thousand miles north all the way to Egypt, by camel, by truck, by train, but mostly on foot. He slings himself from one perilous city to another, fiercely enjoying life on the road and relying on his vast clan network to shelter him and point the way to his father, who always seems just a day or two out of reach.

In his travels, Jama will witness scenes of great humanity and brutality; he will be caught up in the indifferent, grinding machine of war; he will crisscross the Red Sea in search of working papers and a ship. Bursting with life and a rough joyfulness, Black Mamba Boy is debut novelist Nadifa Mohamed's vibrant, moving celebration of her family's own history.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Yemen, 1935. Jama is a "market boy," a half-feral child scavenging with his friends in the dusty streets of a great seaport. For Jama, life is a thrilling carnival, at least when he can fill his belly. When his mother—alternately raging and loving—dies young, she leaves him only an amulet stuffed with one hundred rupees. Jama decides to spend her life's meager savings on a search for his never-seen father; the rumors that travel along clan lines report that he is a driver for the British somewhere in the north. So begins Jama's extraordinary journey of more than a thousand miles north all the way to Egypt, by camel, by truck, by train, but mostly on foot. He slings himself from one perilous city to another, fiercely enjoying life on the road and relying on his vast clan network to shelter him and point the way to his father, who always seems just a day or two out of reach.

In his travels, Jama will witness scenes of great humanity and brutality; he will be caught up in the indifferent, grinding machine of war; he will crisscross the Red Sea in search of working papers and a ship. Bursting with life and a rough joyfulness, Black Mamba Boy is debut novelist Nadifa Mohamed's vibrant, moving celebration of her family's own history.

More books from Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Cover of the book Styles of Radical Will by Nadifa Mohamed
Cover of the book The Great Delusion by Nadifa Mohamed
Cover of the book The Outlaw Sea by Nadifa Mohamed
Cover of the book Lurid & Cute by Nadifa Mohamed
Cover of the book Chasing Hubble's Shadows by Nadifa Mohamed
Cover of the book Leo Thorsness by Nadifa Mohamed
Cover of the book The Simpsons by Nadifa Mohamed
Cover of the book Personal Intelligence by Nadifa Mohamed
Cover of the book Secret Historian by Nadifa Mohamed
Cover of the book The Paranoia Switch by Nadifa Mohamed
Cover of the book A Meeting by the River by Nadifa Mohamed
Cover of the book Vita by Nadifa Mohamed
Cover of the book The Other F-Word by Nadifa Mohamed
Cover of the book A Glorious Defeat by Nadifa Mohamed
Cover of the book The Fortunate Traveller by Nadifa Mohamed
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy