Hangman

Maya Binyam's first novel, Hangman, follows a man sent back to sub-Saharan Africa after twenty-six years in America. A phone call tells him to get on a plane, and someone else has already made every arrangement. He leaves with no clothes of his own, since his wardrobe was packed by others, and a car takes him from the airport.

Once home, he no longer recognizes the country or the people in it. A stranger greets him as a brother, and that claim sends him searching for his real brother, who is dying. Along the way he encounters ghosts, guides, tricksters, officials, debtors, taxi drivers, relatives, riddles, and strangers, each one pointing him toward the truth.

The novel explores exile, diaspora, and whether Black people can ever find shelter in America or anywhere else. It moves between an existential journey, a tragic farce, and a slapstick tragedy, and it traces one man's stubborn attempt to find refuge in this world and in whatever lies beyond it.