Young Blood

Winner, Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in AfricaOne of CrimeReads Most Anticipated Crime Books 0f 2021'Sifiso Mzobe has written a compassionate, unsentimental, and artful portrait of a young man on the threshold of trying to preserve his life and his humanity by the very means that will almost inevitably destroy both. Paul Harding, Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of TinkersCars, money, girls: this is what you need to get ahead in Umlazi, a township on the outskirts of Durban, South Africa. Sipho, a 17-year-old from Umlazi, drops out of high school and joins a car hijacking syndicate to make a name for himself and escape his family s low-income life. Along with hijacking partners Musa and Vusi, Sipho learns the tricks of the dangerous trade and pushes deeper into the underbelly of Umlazi under the guidance of gang leader Sibani, while partying heavily and juggling different women nightly alongside his longtime girlfriend Nana. Candid and unapologetic, Young Blood is the story of the intricate balance of circumstance and choice, swift gain and incredible loss, as Sipho finds out how far he can push his luck before the damage is irrevocable and the consequences deadly. Both a red-hot crime novel of car heists, sex, and rival gangs and a coming of age story of a teenager navigating the costs of the fast life, Young Blood reveals the devastating violence and raw beauty of life in South Africa s townships.