Overview

The half-million copy bestseller from a young Senegalese star, the first winner of the Prix Goncourt from Sub-Saharan Africa Paris, 2018. Diegane Latyr Faye, a young Senegalese writer, discovers a legendary book titled The Maze of Inhumanity. It has an immediate hold over him. No one knows what happened to the author, T.C. Elimane, who was accused of plagiarism, his reputation destroyed by the critics. Obsessed with discovering the truth about Elimane's disappearance, Faye weaves past and present, countries and continents, following the author's labyrinthine trail from Senegal to Argentina and France and confronting the great tragedies of history. Will he get to the truth at the centre of the maze? A gripping literary quest novel and a masterpiece of perpetual reinvention, The Most Secret Memory of Men confronts the impact of colonialism and neo-colonialism, the holocaust in Europe, dictatorships in South America and the Caribbean, genocide in Africa, and collaboration and resistance everywhere. Above all, it is a love song to literature and its timeless power.

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9781787303737

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Reviews

Captivating, precise, sensual prose. A book that will stir your emotions and make you think. A love letter to literature, this novel is already a classic and it will haunt you. -- Leïla Slimani, bestselling author of LULLABY More than an engrossing investigation into the mysterious author of a cursed book, Sarr's magnificent novel also offers a profound reflection on the resonance of literature in our lives. -- David Diop, International Booker Prize–winning author of AT NIGHT ALL BLOOD IS BLACK A powerful book, crossed by an epic breath that celebrates the power of literature. -- Alain Mabanckou, author of BLACK MOSES Thanks to translator Lara Vergnaud, English-language readers can seamlessly experience Mohamed Mbougar Sarr's pyrotechnic prose. A labyrinth of a novel, The Most Secret Memory of Men is as enthralling as it is thought-provoking. Sarr is a writer that comes along once in a lifetime. -- Eric Nguyen, author of THINGS WE LOST TO THE WATER This marvellous novel is part gripping literary mystery and part disquisition on being a black author in a predominantly white culture… the reader is drawn into a skilfully drawn reconstruction of French literary history in which ideas of authenticity, power, race and fame are wittily deconstructed. Terrific * Daily Mail *

Captivating, precise, sensual prose. A book that will stir your emotions and make you think. A love letter to literature, this novel is already a classic and it will haunt you. -- Leïla Slimani, bestselling author of LULLABY More than an engrossing investigation into the mysterious author of a cursed book, Sarr's magnificent novel also offers a profound reflection on the resonance of literature in our lives. -- David Diop, International Booker Prize–winning author of AT NIGHT ALL BLOOD IS BLACK A powerful book, crossed by an epic breath that celebrates the power of literature. -- Alain Mabanckou, author of BLACK MOSES Thanks to translator Lara Vergnaud, English-language readers can seamlessly experience Mohamed Mbougar Sarr's pyrotechnic prose. A labyrinth of a novel, The Most Secret Memory of Men is as enthralling as it is thought-provoking. Sarr is a writer that comes along once in a lifetime. -- Eric Nguyen, author of THINGS WE LOST TO THE WATER

Author Information

MOHAMED MBOUGAR SARR was born in Dakar in 1990. He studied literature and philosophy in Paris and is the author of four prize-winning novels. The Most Secret Memory of Men was awarded France's Prix Goncourt in 2021 and is an international phenomenon, selling more than half a million copies in France and translated into more than thirty languages.

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