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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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About this listen

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 Black Creators Crime Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Murder Sea Adventures World Literature Biography Heartfelt

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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
Deserves to be heard by a everyone, but especially those who support capital execution.

A fabulous true story

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I enjoyed reading The Fortune Men as it is a story which needs reflecting on especially at this point in history. At this point we have chance to view it from a perspective of justice, human rights and without the lenses of racial prejudices even that’s why this story unfolded the way it did.
One criticism of the book was how harshly the author described the other black characters in the book from other cultures. She wrote them hatefully whilst seeming to write white characters even with their prejudices lovingly and with forgiveness. Many Black writers never truly see their own internalised anti-black prejudices even when they’re writing about racism. Funny thing that. Even when the Jamaican man came
Forward decades later to help with the case, the writer never wrote him with a redeeming tone. She almost dismisses his change of heart which is much more than Mohammad’s own Somali community did for him.
Still an important book nonetheless

An important story

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A narrative set in post war Tiger Bay. The story explores the lives of the multicutural community and the experiences of the Somali sailors in a racist society

Historical miscarriage of justice

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I picked this book because it was nominated for an award and I can completely see why. It is such a great story which really makes you think about what it would have been like to be a Somalian living in Britain in the mid 20th century. A story is always at its best when it allows you to comprehend life from someone else's perspective.

Such a great listen

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People are annoyed by the Welsh accent, it is at least recognisable. It took me a while to figure out some words he was saying are actually Somali words. How can a narrator be chosen to read a book by a Somali author, about a man from Somalia and the book has many phrases in Somali language but the narrator does not bother to even Google and know that 'X' is actually pronounced as an 'H'??? I've stopped halfway and trying to push myself to finish it. If my life was less hectic I'd read the book, but audible is everything until that day I have time to sit with a book and finish it in decent amount of time. I found this a lazy choice that does not do the book justice, his voice is easy to listen to but we wouldn't have it if a narrator read French words and pronounced every single letter in a word, this is that bad.

Narrator butchers the key Somali phrases

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