The Most Secret Memory of Men

Author Mohamed Mbougar Sarr
Narrator Ayesha Antoine, Chris Thompson, Kyle Gabbidon, Masimba Ushe, Musu-kulla Massaquoi, Nile Faure-Bryan, various
Publisher Random House
Publish Date 22 February 2024
Run Time 14 hours and 54 minutes
Format Audio
Genre Fiction in translation, Modern and contemporary fiction, Narrative theme: Displacement, exile, migration, Narrative theme: journeys and voyages, Narrative theme: Politics.

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

Paris, 2018. Diégane 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.

©2024 Mohamed Mbougar Sarr (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Critics Review

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.

Leu00efla 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 Prizeu2013winning author ofu00a0AT NIGHT ALL BLOOD IS BLACK

A masterpiece

The Times

Sarru2019s dizzying display of reference ... plays a witty game with French and world literature ... This effervescence is infectious and casts its charm in times nostalgic for a belief in books and the communities they create.

Times Literary Supplement

A powerful book, crossed by an epic breath that celebrates the power of literature.

Alain Mabanckou, author ofu00a0BLACK 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 ofu00a0THINGS WE LOST TO THE WATER

Sarru2019s incisive critique never relentsu2026 a brilliant effort at welcoming readers into the work of an author whose career was interrupted

Guardian

A literary questu2026 The style as well as the sweep is Bolau00f1oesque: surreal metaphors, multi-page dream descriptions

Observer

Ambitious and playful

Economist

Funny, sharp takes on questions of identity add grit to an inventive tribute to literature's timeless potency

Mail on Sunday

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