Written by Nadifa Mohamed
The Fortune Men is a non-fiction novel that semi-fictionalises the true story of Mahmood Hussein Mattan, a Somali former merchant seaman who was executed after being wrongfully convicted of the 6 March 1952 murder of Lily Volpert (renamed Violet Volacki in the book) in Cardiff's Tiger Bay.
Mattan was posthumously acquitted in 1998 when it was revealed that evidence had been falsified and manipulated by the police. He was the last person to be hanged at HM Prison Cardiff.
Mohamed's father, who was also born in Somaliland, met Mattan when the two emigrated to Kingston upon Hull.
Goldsboro Books
Hardback · Viking · First edition · First printing
First Edition, First Printing, Signed
ISBN 9780241466940
Last confirmed 11 Jul 2026
View at Goldsboro Books