Green-Eyed Thieves (The Africa List)

Hardly a conventional family history, 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 ingeneous 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.