The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed
What's It About?
“I can see how men go mad. You open a door in your mind and just step through. Easy.”Author Nadifa Mohamed explores the topic of wrongful incarceration and a corrupt justice system in her new release, The Fortune Men (Knopf). The immersive detail and timeliness of this narrative are among the reasons that the book was selected as a finalist for this year’s prestigious Booker Prize. The Fortune Men is based on the true account of a Somali immigrant struggling to maintain sanity while awaiting his trial for murder in Cardiff, Wales, during the early 1950s. For a black man facing a biased justice system, will innocence be enough to save his life?
One thing is made clear from the beginning of the book: Mahmood Mattan did not commit the brutal crime for which he is accused. Mahmood is many things — an ex-sailor, estranged husband, father of three, gambler, petty criminal — but he is no murderer. When a local shopkeeper is found dead in her own store, however, police scour the area for “a black Somali man” seen just before the crime and begin to question everyone with dark skin and a mysterious past.
When the victim’s family offers a handsome reward for information in the case, accusations start to fly. Mahmood finds himself under the scrutiny of police, taken in for questioning and subsequently arrested. As circumstantial evidence is gathered and additional witnesses are coerced into providing testimony against him, Mahmood fears that the promises of freedom and justice that drew him to Great Britain may not hold true for those of his position and skin color.
MOHAMED’S STRIKING IMAGERY OF HOPE AMID GREAT STRIFE
In the tradition of Capote’s In Cold Blood, author Mohamed incorporates profuse descriptions of both character and setting in this, her third book. We learn the story of Mahmood’s mysterious past in Somaliland, as a sailor traveling the world and how he came to settle in Cardiff. His courtship and marriage to Laure, his Welsh wife, are recounted in a few striking scenes and are among the more uplifting points of the book. The resilient life of the shopkeeper Victoria Volacki provides additional perspective and detail that add to the setting and create a connection with the victim.
Upon his arrest, the main character is confined to an inhospitable cell in the local prison, which is rendered with poignant and claustrophobic detail:
“The prison cells are so cramped that with outstretched arms you can touch both walls at the same time. After he’s already walked two paces into the cell, Mahmood jumps back on seeing another man already there: a black man lounging in the bottom bunk, his big feet hanging over the edge of the narrow cot.”
In a certain part of that stark prison, Mahmood is able to look through a window to see the house where his estranged wife and three young children live. They stand in the yard once a week at a given time to wave and see their father as he awaits trial. This hopeful imagery is a glimpse of light in an otherwise dreary, gray place. Although Mahmood is initially certain of his release and cooperates with the authorities, he soon loses confidence that his innocence will be enough to set him free.
GROSS MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE CASTS LIGHT ON THE PRESENT
With a lack of any other suspects, authorities become determined to prove Mahmood’s guilt by fabricating a case against the innocent man. They compile circumstantial evidence, false statements from people who despise him, and a few reprehensible individuals simply looking to claim a portion of the reward money. These shortcomings of the justice system, combined with pervasive and deep-rooted racism, may prove to be enough to condemn a black man to death for a crime he did not commit.
The Fortune Men, while focused primarily on the murder of a shopkeeper, the investigation of the crime and trial of an innocent black man, is so much larger in scope than the average crime novel. Based on historical events, and with a richly imagined backstory, this book speaks to deeper themes of racial prejudice, injustice and police corruption. It will appeal to those who are cognizant of similar miscarriages in our current criminal justice and social systems, as well as to anyone who has trusted an established institution but later discovered that it was not what they imagined it to be.
