This paper looks into writer Aminatta Forna's critical engagement with transitional justice processes in her novel The Hired Man (2013). Born in Scotland and raised in Sierra Leone and Great Britain, Forna has shown a sustained concern with civil conflict and post-conflict reconstruction in Sierra Leone. In The Hired Man, she has shifted her attention to a different geographical area, Croatia. When asked about the reasons for this change of setting, Forna has shown surprise at the confusion created by her interest in a non-African country's struggle with civil conflict, reminding critics of the many convergences found between both countries as post-conflict societies. I intend to look into these convergences through references to Forna's Sierra Leone post-conflict novel The Memory of Love (2010), with the aim of exploring the ways in which The Hired Man articulates the divergences that may exist between local and international approaches to transitional justice. At the centre of this novel is a house, formerly owned by victims of ethnic cleansing and recently bought by an English family, unaware of its provenance. I will argue that the restoration of this building, which triggers a dynamic of revelation and unveiling, will function as a metaphor for the need to promote restorative justice mechanisms and truthful, if not always conciliatory, remembrance.
