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Brotherless Night

Brotherless Night

'Blazingly brilliant' CELESTE NG

Summary

WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2024

'A masterpiece of historical fiction' MONICA ALI, chair of judges for the Women's Prize for Fiction

Sixteen-year-old Sashi wants to become a doctor. But over the next decade, as a vicious civil war tears through her hometown of Jaffna, her dream takes her on a different path as she sees those around her, including her four beloved brothers and their friend, get swept up in violent political ideologies and their consequences. Desperate to act, she must ask herself: is it possible for anyone to move through life without doing harm?

'An unforgettable account of a country and a family coming undone… Brotherless Night is a spectacular work of historical fiction' Guardian

'A heartbreaking exploration of a family fractured by civil war' BRIT BENNETT, bestselling author of THE VANISHING HALF

'Blazingly brilliant' CELESTE NG, bestselling author of LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE

'Stunningly great' Curtis Sittenfeld, bestselling author of ROMANTIC COMEDY, via Twitter

'Ganeshananthan is a superb writer...I wept at many points in this novel and I also wept when it was over' Sunday Times


WINNER OF THE CAROL SHIELDS PRIZE FOR FICTION

Reviews

  • Brotherless Night is a brilliant, compelling and deeply moving novel that bears witness to the intimate and epic-scale tragedies of the Sri Lankan civil war. In rich, evocative prose, Ganeshananthan creates a vivid sense of time and place and an indelible cast of characters. Her commitment to complexity and clear-eyed moral scrutiny combines with spellbinding storytelling to render Brotherless Night a masterpiece of historical fiction.
    Monica Ali, chair of judges for the Women's Prize for Fiction

About the author

V. V. Ganeshananthan

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