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The Fortune Men

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The Fortune Men

By: Nadifa Mohamed
Narrated by: Hugh Quarshie
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Brought to you by Penguin.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2021 & THE COSTA NOVEL AWARD 2021

Mahmood Mattan is a fixture in Cardiff's Tiger Bay, 1952, which bustles with Somali and West Indian sailors, Maltese businessmen and Jewish families. He is a father, chancer, some-time petty thief. He is many things, in fact, but he is not a murderer.

So when a shopkeeper is brutally killed and all eyes fall on him, Mahmood isn't too worried. It is true that he has been getting into trouble more often since his Welsh wife Laura left him. But Mahmood is secure in his innocence in a country where, he thinks, justice is served.

It is only in the run-up to the trial, as the prospect of freedom dwindles, that it will dawn on Mahmood that he is in a terrifying fight for his life - against conspiracy, prejudice and the inhumanity of the state. And, under the shadow of the hangman's noose, he begins to realise that the truth may not be enough to save him.

'Chilling and utterly compelling, The Fortune Men shines an essential light on a much-neglected period of our national life' Sathnam Sanghera, author of Empireland

'A writer of great humanity and intelligence. Nadifa Mohamed deeply understands how lives are shaped both by the grand sweep of history and the intimate encounters of human beings' Kamila Shamsie, author of Home Fire

'A novel of tremendous power, compassion and subtlety, it feels unsettlingly timely' Pankaj Mishra

© Nadifa Mohamed 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

 Biographical Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Sea Adventures World Literature

Critic reviews

Grippingly-paced and full of complex, richly-drawn characters, the novel combines pointed social observation with a deeply empathetic sensibility. The Fortune Men demonstrates what historical fiction can achieve at its best

(Maya Jasanoff, Chair of the Booker Prize 2021)
[An] expert illumination of real-life racial injustice in the cultural melting pot of 1950s Cardiff (Justine Jordan)
Nadifa Mohamed's The Fortune Men is an elegant portrayal of life in the racial, cultural hub of Cardiff's Tiger Bay in the early Fifties. Eschewing a simple morality play for complex vivid characters, it centres on the plight of Mahmood Mattan, who finds himself in the shadow of the hangman's noose for a murder he didn't commit (Gary Younge)
Smart and devastating, there's a reason it's one of our books of the year
A potent, pointed novel . . . Mohamed is a big talent, and she's only getting started
The Fortune Men is a novel on fire, a restitution of justice in prose
Based on real events, Mohamed's novel is panoramic in its scope and rich in period atmosphere, vividly tracing the desperate livers of the victim and the accused
In her determined, nuanced and compassionate exposure of injustice, Mohamed gives the terrible story of Mattan's life and death meaning and dignity
A searing and moving look at institutional racism and the helplessness you can feel in the face of prejudice
A writer of great humanity and intelligence. Nadifa Mohamed deeply understands how lives are shaped both by the grand sweep of history and the intimate encounters of human beings (Kamila Shamsie, author of Home Fire)
All stars
Most relevant
Story of a radical in many ways who wanted to break down the rules that were forced on him to limit his personal and social life!

Unjustifiable justice

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