Before We Hit the Ground

'A moving exploration of family, migration, class, queerness and belonging… beautifully rendered' JESSICA ANDREWS, prize-winning author of Saltwater and Milk Teeth

'A deeply observant, perceptive writer' JOANNA CANNON, bestselling author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep

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

© 2025 The Borough Press (Audiobook): 9780008509590

Release date

Audiobook: February 27, 2025