Black Mamba Boy

"[An] incredible story . . . An accomplished first novel . . . In its best, most moving moments, Mohamed portrays, from a child's eye view, both the loneliness adn camraderie of street children like Jama, whose friendships become almost as sustaining as food and water in this scorched and famished land."—Arifa Akbar, The Independent

"A compelling account of the refugee experience. Mixing startling lyricism and sheer brutality, [Mohamed] plunges into the chattering, viscous heat and 'hyena darkness' of Aden, 1935 . . . This is a significant, affecting book of the dispossessed."—Catherine Taylor, The Guardian

"A first novel of assured elegance and beauty . . . A stunning debut."—Kate Saunders, The Times (London)

"Set on the rough streets of Yemen in 1935, Black Mamba Boy tells a slice of history that seems all too modern. When Jama and his mother are abandoned by his father, they move to Yemen to try and make a new life. Rejected by the relatives they live with, Jama spends most of his days on the street. When his mother dies young, she leaves him with 100 rupees, which he decides to spend searching for his father. His journey takes him over 1,000 miles. Like other heartbreaking tales of child abuse and abandonment, Black Mamba Boy can be hard to take at times. But this debut novel is worth reading through to the end."—Marta Segal Block, Booklist

"Mohamed's beautifully rendered debut, inspired by her father's life . . . Jama is a charming protagonist whose peregrinations—assisted by clansmen, kind strangers, and ghostly visitations—are directed more by historical and biographical significance than by the demands of plot. Mohamed vividly recreates the complex atmosphere of the era, and her personal investment in the story gives it a passionate edge."—Publishers Weekly