Before We Hit the Ground

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'A remarkable debut; quietly devastating, utterly moving and beautifully wrought' Jendella Benson

'Expansive, surprising, delightful, vulnerable and always real' Olumide Popoola

'Brilliant I read it in one enthralled sitting' Peter Scalpello

Love was a tightrope between freedom and control. He didnt know how others seemed to walk it with ease
This is the challenge Elom and his family face in the years before his unexpected death.

Caught between his well-meaning yet misapprehending family, his boisterous friends, and his self-assured partner Ben, Elom struggles to fit in. All he ever wants is to feel understood but what does it mean to live authentically when the only thing changing faster than the world around you is the world within

Moving between Accra, Glasgow and London, Selali Fiamanyas extraordinary debut asks what it means to love and be loved in return. Before We Hit the Ground is an intimate portrait of a family, and one mans struggle to find his place.

Reviews

A remarkable debut; quietly devastating, utterly moving and beautifully wrought

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 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

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

Author Bio

Selali Fiamanya was born and raised in Glasgow, with a couple of years spent in Accra, Ghana. He won a place on the inaugural Breakthrough Novel-Writing Course for Black Writers run by Curtis Brown Creative. He is currently undertaking his GP training in Scotland. Before We Hit The Ground is his first novel.