The Most Secret Memory of Men

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 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

This marvellous novel is part gripping literary mystery and part disquisition on being a black author in a predominantly white culture… the reader is drawn into a skilfully drawn reconstruction of French literary history in which ideas of authenticity, power, race and fame are wittily deconstructed. Terrific

Daily Mail

A masterpiece

The Times

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

Mail on Sunday

A literary quest… The style as well as the sweep is Bolañoesque: surreal metaphors, multi-page dream descriptions

Observer

Sarr’s incisive critique never relents… a brilliant effort at welcoming readers into the work of an author whose career was interrupted

Guardian

A rollicking literary mystery ... An aerobatic feat of narrative invention, whirling between noir, fairy tale, satire, and archival fiction in its self-reflexive meditation on the nature of literary legend ... Propulsive.

New Yorker

[The Most Secret Memory of Men] travels through space and time, from contemporary Paris to postwar Argentina to a Senegalese village. Besides the main narrator, a collection of voices complement one another to form an overall story, as one of the novel’s main goals is to put different realities and traditions ‘on the same level.

New York 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

Brilliantly executed ... A rich narrative about art as a lasting marker of ephemeral individual existence. Literary mystery fans will be captivated.

Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

Sarr investigates with keen psychological detail ... [The Most Secret Memory of Men] justifies itself as the winner of the 2021 Prix Goncourt, one of France’s most prestigious literary prizes ... A novel of undoubtable prowess.

Kirkus Reviews

Luminous, vertiginous, and cerebral novel ... A high-flying reflection on the art of writing as well as the freedom and solitude it brings to the writer ... A masterpiece of pure wonder

Blaise Ndala, award-winning author of IN THE BELLY OF THE CONGO

An ingeniously constructed, ferociously intelligent literary detective novel ... A brilliant, labyrinthine, highly entertaining page-turner, rightly cemented as a contemporary masterpiece by the Prix Goncourt

Dmitri Nasrallah, bestselling author of HOTLINE