Before We Hit the Ground

A powerful new literary novel for fans of Open Water and Transcendent Kingdom

‘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… beautifully rendered' JESSICA ANDREWS

'A deeply observant, perceptive writer' JOANNA CANNON

'Warm, engrossing, deeply moving. I loved these characters' HOLLY BRICKLEY

'Masterful… It will stay with you long after you finish it' JJ BOLA