Mahmood Mattan left his native Somaliland and went to sea. He became a chancer, and gambler with little respect for authority. Living in Cardiff's Tiger Bay in 1952 he is arrested for the murder of a shopkeeper. Though innocent, he slowly realises this may not be enough to save him. Based on fact, this book certainly suggests Black Lives did not Matter much in 1950's Britain. A powerful and timely read.
Mahmood had known before Laura that their marriage was a kind of death for her, and he understood that she needed time to grieve. He had swallowed his pride and let her name their firstborn son after her favourite brother, who had moved out of the house in disgust at their marriage. Now, he can see that she is growing alert to status and all its tiny degrees: she keeps the boys away from Qur'anic school, uses their Welsh names, wants them baptized and raised just like their cousins.
