The Fortune Men

Set in Cardiff, Wales, in 1952, this searing novel from Mohamed (The Orchard of Lost Souls) draws on a real-life miscarriage of justice—the hanging of Mahmood Mattan, a Somali man, for a murder he didn’t commit. Mahmood, a small-time thief who has been desperate enough to steal money from the mosque he attends, has learned, or thinks he has, how to survive as a Black man in a city where the cops once beat a drunk to death simply because of his race: “to walk with his shoulders high, his elbows pointed out, his feet sliding slowly over the ground, his chin buried deep in his collar and his hat low over his face, to give nothing away apart from his masculinity.” Unfortunately, when someone slits the throat of shopkeeper Violet Volacki, the police arrest Mahmood, setting the stage for his execution. Mohamed maintains a high level of tension as the tragedy slowly unfolds. An epilogue details how Mahmood was exonerated years later. This is a powerful portrayal of an innocent man trapped by a racist system that will resonate with readers familiar with such travesties of justice in the U.S. Agent: Nicole Aragi, Aragi. (Dec.)