alx reviewed The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed
The Fortune Men
5 stars
A fictionalised account of the case of Mahmood Matin, a Somali in 1950s Cardiff who was wrongfully accused of a violent crime.
The author writes an evocative depiction of the Tiger Bay area, while avoiding leaning into long descriptions and spurious period detail. Instead, she shows us through her characters the community-of-communities in the docklands, and the tensions that existed within it.
A definite recommend for the general reader - though I found it particularly of interest being from Cardiff myself, and the grandchild of immigrants who came to South Wales because of the shipping industry.
(Listened to the audio version, read well by Hugh Quarshie.)