# A Man of Good Hope (2015) by Jonny Steinberg: one Somali refugee's journey to South Africa

> Jonny Steinberg's A Man of Good Hope (2015): Asad Abdullahi's journey from Mogadishu through Kenya and Ethiopia to South Africa, how the book was made, and how reviewers received it.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/books/a-man-of-good-hope-steinberg/
Last checked: 2026-11-12
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## The book

**A Man of Good Hope** is by **Jonny Steinberg**, a South African writer and scholar who has written several books on South African society. It was published in January 2015 by Jonathan Cape in [London](/en/diaspora/london/) and by Knopf in New York, with a paperback from Vintage later that year ([Penguin Random House](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/236876/a-man-of-good-hope-by-jonny-steinberg/9780385352734); [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonny_Steinberg)).

## The story

The book follows **Asad Abdullahi**, a Somali man whom Steinberg met in South Africa. In 1991, when [Asad](/en/society/films-about-somalia/) was eight, his mother was shot dead in Mogadishu during the civil war, and he fled the city. He was passed between relatives and others who could not protect him, and grew up in several East African cities, including a period as a street hustler in Addis Ababa ([Penguin Random House](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/236876/a-man-of-good-hope-by-jonny-steinberg/9780385352734)).

He made his way through Kenya and Ethiopia to South Africa, relying on his wits and on Somali clan networks in the diaspora. In South Africa he built a small business as a shopkeeper in a township, but local violence against Somali and other foreign traders put it at risk ([Irish Examiner](https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/arid-20307215.html)). Somalis in the country are covered on [Somalis in South Africa](/en/diaspora/south-africa/), and the journey through the region on [Somalis in Ethiopia](/en/diaspora/ethiopia/) and [Somalis in Kenya](/en/diaspora/kenya/).

## How it was written

Steinberg built the book from hundreds of hours of interviews with Asad, and travelled to the places where Asad had lived. He paid Asad for his life story, and the book discusses that arrangement openly ([Irish Examiner](https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/arid-20307215.html)). Steinberg also argues that the hostility to foreigners Asad met in South Africa is "a product of citizenship, the claiming of a new birthright" ([Irish Examiner](https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/arid-20307215.html)).

## How it was received

- It was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Alan Paton Award and the Johannesburg Book Prize in 2015 ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonny_Steinberg)).
- The Guardian called it "a powerful testament to the resilience of humanity", and The Economist called it "compelling" ([Penguin Random House](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/236876/a-man-of-good-hope-by-jonny-steinberg/9780385352734)).
- Dan Brotzel, in the Irish Examiner, called it "painstaking and humane" and praised its "forensic compassion", while noting it leaves readers with "a certain despair" ([Irish Examiner](https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/arid-20307215.html)).
- Richard Dowden, reviewing it for African Arguments, observed that as a novel the story might seem unconvincing, because fate works against Asad so often ([African Arguments](https://africanarguments.org/2015/01/a-man-of-good-hope-review-by-richard-dowden/)).

## Where to read it

- In a library: [WorldCat](https://search.worldcat.org/search?q=A+Man+of+Good+Hope+Steinberg)

## Related pages

- [City of Thorns (2016), Ben Rawlence](/en/books/city-of-thorns-rawlence/)
- [Books about Somalis since 2006](/en/history/books-about-somalis-since-2006/)

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