Lauren Beukes

Qondiswa James

zoo-city

About us

About Us (Header 4)

Kate-Atkinson

James-Baldwin

Marian-Keyes

haruki-murakami-320×320-1

Richard-Osman

Malorie Blackman

Lisa-Jewell

Charlie-Mackesy

Authors (Header 3)

Children&#039;s

Company

Discover

Fiction

Non-fiction

Penguin Classics

Penguin Shop (Header 5)

Useful links

Work with us

Bridge

Afterland

A gripping and thrilling novel from the winner of the Arthur C Clarke award

Moxyland

Zoo City

Penguin Shop: 3 Clothbound Classics for £33

[Beukes] brings a secret tenderness and humanity to her off-kilter portrait of the here and now

Lauren Beukes is very, *very* good. It feels effortless. Utterly accomplished

A fabulous outing from an extremely promising writer ... [It] has so much fabulous wordplay, imaginative settings and scenarios, and such a dark and cynical heart that I was totally riveted by it

Beukes's energetic noir phantasmagoria ... crackles with original ideas ... Beukes skilfully employs all the twists of first-rate noir ... powerful indeed

Beukes delivers a thrill ride that gleefully merges narrative styles and tropes, almost single-handedly pulling the "urban fantasy" subgenre back towards its groundbreaking roots

Energetic and imaginative ... Packed with colour, dark humour and thought-provoking ideas, Zoo City is an absolute must for anyone with a taste for the wilder edges of the genre

An unpredictable and helluva awesome read

Lauren Beukes is Jeff Noon crossed with Raymond Chandler. I loved it, it's going to be huge

I couldn't put this down. It's weird, thrilling, funny... filled with sleazy characters and lots of bad attitude

An unfamiliar land full of familiars, a broken Johannesburg peopled with damaged wonders... If our words are bullets, Lauren Beukes is a marksman in a world of drunken machine-gunners

Zoo City is pure originality ... a book that had me reading it revelling in Beukes' magical way with words

At times the witty and lyrical prose is sheer magic, the story captivating and the characters exotic, cruel and beautiful while the backdrop of Johannesburg seethes with hidden, lurking dangers around every corner, Zoo City is quite simply captivating

The gripping novel from the author of Apple TV’s Shining Girls

Zinzi December has a talent for finding lost people. Even when they don't want to be found. And when she is hired by reclusive music producer Odi Huron to find pop starlet Songweza, she hopes it will be her ticket out of Zoo City, the festering slum where the criminal underclass and their animal companions live in the shadow of hell's undertow. 
 
Instead, it catapults Zinzi deeper into the maw of a city twisted by crime and magic, where she'll be forced to confront the dark secrets of former lives - including her own.

The gripping and original WINNER of the 2011 Arthur C Clarke award

Brought to you by Penguin. 
 
WINNER OF THE 2011 ARTHUR C CLARKE AWARD 
 
Lauren Beukes' tale of a young woman trapped in a brutal city but looking for a way out . . . 
 
Zinzi has a Sloth on her back, a dirty 419 scam habit and a talent for finding lost things. But when a little old lady turns up dead and the cops confiscate her last paycheque, she's forced to take on her least favourite kind of job - missing persons. 
 
Being hired by reclusive music producer Odi Huron to find a pop star should be her ticket out of Zoo City, the festering slum where the criminal underclass and their animal companions reside. 
 
Instead it catapults Zinzi deeper into the maw of a city twisted by crime and magic, where she'll be forced to confront the dark secrets of former lives - including her own. 
 
 
'A major, major talent' George R. R. Martin 
 
'Beukes is very *very* good. It feels effortless, utterly accomplished' William Gibson 
 
'Beukes brings a secret tenderness and humanity to her off-kilter portrait of the here and now' Guardian 
 
'Exquisitely paced and impeccably controlled. An enormously satisfying novel' New York Times Book Review 
 
© Lauren Beukes 2018 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Zoo City

The gripping novel from the author of Apple TV’s Shining Girls

Format:

Buy the book from:

[Beukes] brings a secret tenderness and humanity to her off-kilter portrait of the here and now

Lauren Beukes is **very, very good. It feels effortless. Utterly accomplished**

A fabulous outing from an extremely promising writer ... [It] has so much fabulous wordplay, imaginative settings and scenarios, and such a dark and cynical heart that I was totally riveted by it

Beukes's energetic noir phantasmagoria ... crackles with original ideas ... Beukes skilfully employs all the twists of first-rate noir ... powerful indeed

Beukes delivers a thrill ride that gleefully merges narrative styles and tropes, almost single-handedly pulling the "urban fantasy" subgenre back towards its groundbreaking roots

Energetic and imaginative ... Packed with colour, dark humour and thought-provoking ideas, Zoo City is an absolute must for anyone with a taste for the wilder edges of the genre

Original and unputdownable

An unpredictable and helluva awesome read

Lauren Beukes is Jeff Noon crossed with Raymond Chandler. I loved it, it's going to be huge

I couldn't put this down. It's weird, thrilling, funny... filled with sleazy characters and lots of bad attitude

About Lauren Beukes

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter