Before We Hit the Ground
‘A moving exploration of family, migration, class, queerness and belonging… beautifully rendered’ JESSICA ANDREWS, prize-winning author of Saltwater and Milk Teeth
‘A deeply observant, perceptive writer’ JOANNA CANNON, bestselling author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep
‘Masterful… It will stay with you long after you finish it’ JJ BOLA
‘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.
A moving exploration of family, migration, class, queerness and belonging. Tender and troubling, Selali Fiamanya’s debut shows us the ways in which a loss of language can manifest as a loss of love. This beautifully rendered novel explores what happens to our sense of self when the world around us is shifting and unstable' -
A deeply observant, perceptive writer -
A moving and masterful debut… tells an untold story that tenderly treads the lines of tradition and modernity, love and loss, courage and fear, and hope and despair. It will stay with you long after you finish it -
A remarkable debut; quietly devastating, utterly moving and beautifully wrought -
Warm, engrossing, deeply moving. I loved these characters -
Remarkably nuanced and deeply absorbing… transcends its subject matter through its portrayal, not only of family, but of the numerous ambivalences of love, loyalty, loss, friendship and rupture. A heartbreaking and uplifting novel -
A deeply honest and compelling book… expansive, surprising, delightful, vulnerable and always real. Wonderfully broad and deliciously bold, this is a much-needed and timely addition to British fiction -
An ambitious debut that picks apart the intricacies of family life, exposing both the painful and joyous sides of humanity to the reader, so that we wonder about these characters long after turning that final page -
Brilliant… a moving, empathic reckoning with the cost and contradictions of self-making in a world of unknowns. I read it in one enthralled sitting -
A beautifully written and deeply relatable debut, this novel lays bare the quiet battles of self-expression, the intricacies of family relationships, and the struggle to find where one truly belongs. Selali captures the rift between generations, the yearning for connection, and the delicate tension of balancing two worlds. Vivid, humorous, and full of heart, this is a story that lingers long after the final page -