The Last White Man

by Mohsin Hamid Hamish Hamilton, 192pp, £12.99

This latest novel by Mohsin Hamid is a parable-like account of a town whose inhabitants abruptly begin to change skin tone from white to brown. Hamid relates in a detached, rolling manner the tensions, conflicts and near societal breakdown that result, with a particular focus on the impact on the lives of yoga instructor Oona and gym trainer Anders, who are among the first to change. It is in recounting the relationship between Oona and Anders, their thoughts and feelings, their struggles with loss – of family members, identity and community – that the novel is strongest, to the extent that wider consequences of the changes, the conspiracy theories and the riots, almost fade from view. The personal experience of difference and assimilation, a familiar theme from Hamid’s other work, is movingly evoked, and gives this novel its emotional root.

Joshua Pugh Ginn