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LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2024

‘A brilliantly surreal story of exile and homecoming’ GUARDIAN‘S BOOK OF THE DAY

‘A slim, stark, and captivatingly enigmatic debut’ NEW YORKER

A man returns home to sub-Saharan Africa after twenty-six years living in exile in America. When he arrives, he finds that he doesn’t recognize the country or anyone in it. Thankfully, someone at the airport knows him-a man who calls him brother. As they travel to this man’s house, the purpose of his visit comes into focus: he is here to find his real brother, who is dying.

Hangman is his tragicomic journey through homecoming and loss. It is a hilarious and twisted odyssey, peopled by phantoms and tricksters, aid workers and taxi drivers, the relatives and riddles that lead this man along a circuitous path towards the truth. This is the strangely honest story of one man’s search for refuge-in this world and the one that lies beyond it.

*A BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE TELEGRAPH, VULTURE, FRIEZE, BBC, READER’S DIGEST*

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MORE PRAISE FOR HANGMAN:

‘Urgent and emotionally resonant’ VOGUE

‘Reinvents the novel of return… keeps you hooked’ Monica Ali

‘Melancholic but weirdly hopeful’ FT

‘Remarkably assured and distinctive’ TLS

‘Laconic and darkly humorous’ FRIEZE

‘A striking masterful debut’ NAMWALI SERPELL

‘A bravura twist on the immigrant novel’ DAILY MAIL

‘Ruthlessly honest and startingly beautiful’ MAAZA MENGISTE

‘Daring, intellectually rich, and unsettlingly hilarious’ ALEXANDRA KLEEMAN

‘Reinvents the novel of return… keeps you hooked’

Publisher Review

‘A brilliantly surreal story of exile and homecoming… With its unreliable narrator and its social commentary on the supposed binaries between two countries, the novel is at its best when exploring the ethics and mechanics of empathy’ – Sana Goyal

‘Strange and darkly funny… Maya Binyam’s controlled blend of surreal whimsy and unsettling existential dread makes this a remarkably assured and distinctive debut’ – Houman Barekat

‘What if a road-trip across Africa were directed by David Lynch? In Maya Binyam’s smartly-written debut novel, a man embarks on a strange, riddling and wryly entertaining voyage. On one level, Hangman unfolds as a mystery… on another level, it’s an intelligent comedy… a thrill” – Cal Reverley-Calder

‘A subtle and peculiar novel about subtle and peculiar things – home, exile, injustice, family, return, and life itself. Binyam has written a remarkable book – one that builds, beautifully, a world that feels true, while dismantling the world that feels real’ – Keith Ridgway, author of A Shock

‘A committed, inventive and often comedic exercise in abstraction that by its disquieting final pages has moved beyond themes of exile and return to depict something more tragic: a man who has finally come to know what he doesn’t want to know’ – The Irish Times

‘A gripping tale of homecoming and loss… ruthlessly honest and startlingly beautiful… profound and unforgettable’ Maaza Mengiste, author of The Shadow King’

Daring, intellectually rich, and unsettlingly hilarious. We have a powerful new voice in Maya Binyam, one who knows how to make a story sing’ Alexandra Kleeman, author of Something New Under the Sun

‘A subtle and peculiar novel about subtle and peculiar things – home, exile, injustice, family, return and life itself… a remarkable book’ Keith Ridgway, author of A Shock

‘A strikingly masterful debut… a clean, sharp, piercing – and deeply political novel’ Namwali Serpell, author of The Furrows