Before We Hit the Ground is a beautiful, heart-breaking book that left me stunned. Fiamanya captures the introspective minutiae of normal people so effectively and poignantly, it is a joy to read.

The themes of belonging and home were the most impactful to me. A mother and father leave their home country of Ghana to settle in Scotland, a son goes on a journey to find himself, and more importantly, accept himself. No one quite feels like they fit in, yet they have friends and family that love them.

By switching perspectives with each chapter, you really get to know each character, their motivations and shortcomings, and you fall in love with them even deeper. However, in the opening pages, we learn that a main character has died. I found this a jarring choice - waiting for the inevitable moment to arrive, and having the death haunt over the beauty of the book was almost painful.

"They had shown him that love was a tightrope between freedom and control. He didn't know how others seemed to walk it with ease.

Before We Hit The Ground is a beautiful, sensitive and heartbreaking novel.

This is the story of a family - a family ; Abena and Kodzo born in Ghana and living in Glasgow; Elon their son ; Djifa their daughter. This is the story of family connections, trying to navigate the relationships within and how we breathe as we get older - finding our true selves and trying to remain true to who we are.

The first part of the book focuses on the early relationship and married life of Abena and Kodzu - the desires to succeed in life and life in Glasgow contrasted with the cultural differences to life for their families in Ghana- in particular Abena who grew up supporting her mother and helping to raise the children. The birth of their own children Elon and Djifa brings new challenges - chapters are told through the voice and perspective of each of the family as the years proceed.

Kodzo struggles with his faith ; Abena is torn between her life in Scotland and family in Ghana; Djifa focuses upon her studies and desire to be a doctor ; but it is Elom's story that is the heart of the book.

Elom is gay and struggles to fully accept his sexuality in relationship to family and relationships. His family do not speak of his sexuality and in romance, he finds it difficult to make deeper connections- fear and confusion.The heartache and struggle for Elom is palpable and very moving

"He never understood the rules of social games. Relationships weren't like they were in films and smarter people knew which promises were real and which were romantic aspirations.Perhaps he'd taken things too literally in his eagerness to connect."

Selali Fiamanya has written a wonderful novel- the love within the family is beautiful as they all navigate life and what acceptance means.

This is a superb debut and deserves all accolades it should receive. A 2025 must- read

I absolutely loved reading this and I felt so moved by this story.

Following the life of a family, across two generations: the parents Abena and Kodzo, both born in Ghana, and their children Elon and Djifa born in Glasgow.

The way to characters are described is so quietly spot on and moving. Elom is probably the one who moved me the most by being himself, how well I understand how he feels, how he wants to fit in but doesn't know how, or rather doesn’t understand how to connect, how to belong, how to pretend.

This is a groundbreaking story where we get to follow the ins and outs of four people who love and care but are humans, have their own traumas and experiences, express themselves differently, want different things and feel different things.

“ It was unfair that between Ghana and Scotland, a language had been lost. There was something they never understood about him, and things he was never able to tell them; ways of loving they couldn't agree on, though he knew the love was there. “

I can’t wait to read more by Selali Fiamanya.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and the author for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is a beautiful book. A compelling read, following a family through 3 decades of life in Ghana, Glasgow and London. I enjoyed the writing style from this author, and the way the characters were so well fleshed out. I liked the different chapters showing the viewpoints of each member of the family, which helped you to realise why they each made the decisions they did. The book explores the themes of family, what it means to move to a new country and culture, faith, sexuality. It is incredibly moving and I read it quickly.