Green-eyed Thieves

Imraan Coovadia

Out of Print

 

6 x 7.5 inches, 270pp. March 2011

ISBN : 978 1906497934

Rs  495.00 (HB)
$21.00 (HB)
£14.00 (HB)

Hardly a conventional family memoir, Green-Eyed Thieves tells the story of the fortunes of a family of crooks—the green-eyed thieves of the title. The matriarch of this unusual family is a university lecturer and an accomplished shoplifter, and her husband is a master thief whose ingenious exploits include relieving the Aga Khan of his wardrobe of expensive suits—since they both happened to be the same size. An uncle, universally known as Ten-Per-Cent Farouk, lives with the family in Fordsburg, a suburb of Johannesburg. And Firoze, the narrator of this wickedly humorous novel from South African writer Imraan Coovadia, is a dreamer and a bookworm who is radically different from, but inextricably bound to, his identical twin, Ashraf.

 

Green-Eyed Thieves follows this clan of skilled criminals and the twins as they embark on a series of mind-boggling adventures that include a love triangle with the twins’ perfect match, a masterly heist at Sun City and a surprise appearance at the White House. Including cameos by George W. Bush, Mohammed Atta and a Pakistani Brigadier in Peshawar, these original and lively family adventures are sure to delight.

Imraan Coovadia is a lecturer in the English Department at the University of Cape Town. He is also the author of The Wedding (2001).

 

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