''The Fortune Men'' is a 2021 novel by the Somali-

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

author Nadifa Mohamed, published on 27 May 2021, by the

Viking Books Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquire ...

imprint of Penguin General. The novel was shortlisted for the

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

Booker Prize, and won the 2022

Wales Book of the Year The Wales Book of the Year is a Welsh literary award given annually to the best Welsh and English language works in the fields of fiction and literary criticism by Welsh or Welsh interest authors. Established in 1992, the awards are currently ad ...

Synopsis

''The Fortune Men'' is a

non-fiction novel The non-fiction novel is a literary genre which, broadly speaking, depicts real historical figures and actual events woven together with fictitious conversations and uses the storytelling techniques of fiction. The non-fiction novel is an otherw ...

that semi-fictionalises the true story of

Mahmood Hussein Mattan Mahmood Hussein Mattan (1923 – 3 September 1952) was a British Somali former merchant seaman who was wrongfully convicted of the murder of Lily Volpert on 6 March 1952. The murder took place in the Docklands area of Cardiff, Wales, and Mat ...

, a Somali former merchant seaman who was executed after being wrongfully convicted of the 6 March 1952 murder of Lily Volpert (renamed Violet Volacki in the book) in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

Tiger Bay Tiger Bay ( cy, Bae Teigr) was the local name for an area of Cardiff which covered Butetown and Cardiff Docks. Following the building of the Cardiff Barrage, which dams the tidal rivers, Ely and Taff, to create a body of water, it is re ...

. Mattan was posthumously acquitted in 1998 when it was revealed that evidence had been falsified and manipulated by the police. He was the last person to be hanged at

HM Prison Cardiff HM Prison Cardiff (Welsh: ) is a Category B men's prison, located in the Adamsdown area of Cardiff, Wales. The prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. History By 1814, the existing Cardiff Gaol was deemed insufficient for coping ...

. Mohamed's father, who was also born in Somaliland, met Mattan when the two emigrated to

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from the North Sea and south-ea ...

Reception

In ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', Ashish Ghadiali wrote of Mohamed that the novel "confirms her as a literary star of her generation."

Michael Donkor Michael Donkor (born 1985) is a British author and English teacher based in London. He is represented by Blake Friedmann and Fourth Estate. Early life and education Donkor was born in London to a Ghanaian household. He completed his bachelor ...

, in his review for ''The Guardian'', praised Mohamed for "humanising" Mattan and expressing his religious faith "in delicate and perspicacious prose." Catherine Taylor of the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...

'' wrote, "''The Fortune Men'' is a novel on fire, a restitution of justice in prose." ''The Fortune Men'' was shortlisted for the

Booker Prize. At the 2022

Awards, the novel won the 'triple crown': taking the Rhys Davies Trust Fiction Award, the ''

Wales Arts Review ''Wales Arts Review'' is a critical writing hub for Wales. Originally published fortnightly, the site has published daily since 2016. It offers a critique, by Welsh and Wales-based writers, of various social and cultural aspects of Wales. Histor ...

'' People's Choice Award and the overall prize for Wales Book of the Year.

References

2021 British novels Novels set in Cardiff Works about capital punishment Novels set in the 1950s Fiction set in 1952 Non-fiction novels Wrongful convictions in fiction Novels about murder Black British literature Viking Press books {{2020s-bio-novel-stub