Michel the Giant

More about the book

Scorching heat, rich, fertile soil, and treacherous snakes marked the landscape in which Kpomassie grew up in 1950s Togo, West Africa. When, as a teenager, he discovered a book on Greenland, this distant land of snow and ice became an instant obsession and he embarked on the adventure of a lifetime. In this work of rich, immersive travel writing Kpomassie invites the reader to join him on his audacious journey as he makes his way from the equator to the bitter cold of the Arctic and settles into life with the Inuit peoples, adapting to their foods and customs. Part memoir, part anthropological observation this warm, captivating narrative teems with nuanced observations on community, belonging and colonization.