The Most Secret Memory of Men

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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.
Leïla 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 Prize–winning author of AT NIGHT ALL BLOOD IS BLACK
A masterpiece
The Times
Sarr’s 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 of BLACK 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 of THINGS WE LOST TO THE WATER
Sarr’s incisive critique never relents… a brilliant effort at welcoming readers into the work of an author whose career was interrupted
Guardian
A literary quest… The style as well as the sweep is Bolañoesque: 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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