Before We Hit the Ground, Selali Fiamanya
Before We Hit the Ground, Selali Fiamanya
List: $27.99 | Sale: $19.59
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Before We Hit the Ground

Author: Selali Fiamanya

Narrator: Selali Fiamanya, Danielle Fiamanya

Unabridged: 9 hr 44 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/27/2025

Synopsis

*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' –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––- 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. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––- GLOWING READER REVIEWS ‘Fiamanya's writing is just gorgeous – it's tender, it's unflinching, and it's totally immersive’ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ‘This is one of the best books I’ve read this year, and I truly hope more people discover it’ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ‘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’ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ‘Love was a tightrope between freedom and control. He didn’t know how others seemed to walk it with ease’

Reviews

Goodreads review by Stephen the Bookworm on February 27, 2025

"They had shown him that love was a tightrope between freedom and control. He didn't know how others seemed to walk it with ease.. Before We Hit The Ground is a beautiful, sensitive and heartbreaking novel. This is the story of a family - a family ; Abena and Kodzo born in Ghana and living in Glasgow;......more

Goodreads review by Heather on November 03, 2024

This is a beautiful book. A compelling read, following a family through 3 decades of life in Ghana, Glasgow and London. I enjoyed the writing style from this author, and the way the characters were so well fleshed out. I liked the different chapters showing the viewpoints of each member of the famil......more

Goodreads review by Mark Kwesi on December 29, 2024

Wow. I didn't expect to love this quite so much. With Before We Hit the Ground, Selali Fiamanya has crafted a dense, fantastic debut novel, spanning three decades across Accra, Glasgow, and London in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. This family saga follows a young family of four with Ghanaian......more

Goodreads review by ezra on January 26, 2025

Thank you to NetGalley and The Borough Press for this ARC! Before We Hit the Ground tells us the story of a Ghanian family living in the UK, and we follow them from the parents' meeting in Ghana when they are young adults, through their lives in Glasgow, to the lives their children lead as they grow......more

Goodreads review by SamB on February 23, 2025

Thank you very much to NetGalley, HarperCollins UK and The Borough Press for this advance copy in exchange for a fair review! I went through so many emotions while reading this, and as a result the review had to wait until I'd recovered a little. My short review - read this! It's a long time since I'......more

Quotes

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 poignant multigenerational story exploring themes of identity, belonging, and the complexities of queer love, set across Ghana, Glasgow and London… Fiamanya's evocative prose paints a vivid portrait of a family's love and the choices that define a life. Layered and emotionally resonant, this is a literary novel that deserves to be on your reading list.

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

Delicate and nuanced… crisp and beautiful, this story broke my heart and made it beat faster, all at the same time

Stunning… powerful, profound and poignant… at once beautiful and raw

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

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