Before We Hit the Ground
*LONGLISTED FOR THE SALTIRE BOOK AWARDS*
'A moving exploration of family, migration, class, queerness and belonging… beautifully rendered' JESSICA ANDREWS
'A deeply observant, perceptive writer' JOANNA CANNON
'Masterful' JJ BOLA
'Evocative, layered and emotionally resonant… deserves to be on your reading list' GLAMOUR
‘Love was a tightrope between freedom and control. He didn’t know how others seemed to walk it with ease’–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
Elom can’t make sense of love. It’s like a language he can’t speak, though he’s heard the words before.
He wants to feel understood – by his well-meaning yet misapprehending family, his self-assured partner Ben, and his boisterous friends – but he never knows the right thing to say.
How can you know yourself, in a world that’s constantly changing?
Set across Ghana and Scotland, this is an intimate portrait of one man’s search for belonging, a family’s attempt to love, and the choices that make a life.
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GLOWING READER REVIEWS
‘Fiamanya's writing is just gorgeous – it's tender, it's unflinching, and it's totally immersive’
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‘This is one of the best books I’ve read this year, and I truly hope more people discover it’
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‘All in all this was an absolutely stunning debut novel, I cannot wait to read more of Fiamanya's work in the future’
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
‘Hauntingly beautiful and heartbreaking, this took my breath away. Wow, what a gorgeous novel. I can't recommend this enough’
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Selali Fiamanya was born and raised in Glasgow, with a couple of years spent in Accra, Ghana. He won a place on the inaugural Breakthrough Novel-Writing Course for Black Writers run by Curtis Brown Creative. He is currently undertaking his GP training in Scotland. Before We Hit The Ground is his first novel.