One of V.S. Naipul’s best-known works, this account of chaos and corruption in post-colonial Africa evokes echoes of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.

When Salim is offered a small business in Central Africa, he accepts. Accompanied by Metty, a son of one of the family’s slaves, he travels deep into the heart of the continent and becomes a trader in a town on a bend in a river. Salim believes that: ‘The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it’. But will Salim and his rigid views survive the changing political landscape as social upheaval spreads through post-colonial Africa?

Shortlisted
The Booker Prize 1979
Published by
André Deutsch
Publication date
V.S. Naipaul

V. S. Naipaul

About the Author

Novelist and travel writer V. S. Naipaul was born in Trinidad. He studied at Oxford University, then moved to London to work for the BBC.
More about V. S. Naipaul

Other nominated books by V.S. Naipaul

Half a Life
In A Free State
Prize winner