Brotherless Night
'Blazingly brilliant' CELESTE NG
Published on 29. June 2023
Book
Hardback
368 pages
978-0-241-61104-3 (ISBN)
Description
'A heartbreaking exploration of a family fractured by civil war. This beautiful, nuanced novel follows a young doctor caught within conflicting ideologies as she tries to save lives. I couldn't put this book down' BRIT BENNETT, bestselling author of THE VANISHING HALF
WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2024
WINNER OF THE CAROL SHIELDS PRIZE FOR FICTION
'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?
"With immense compassion and deep moral complexity, V. V. Ganeshananthan brings us an achingly moving portrait of individual and societal grief. "I want you to understand," the narrator of BROTHERLESS NIGHT insists, and by the end of this blazingly brilliant novel, we do: that in a world full of turmoil, human connections and shared stories can teach us how - and as importantly, why - to survive" 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
'An unforgettable account of a country and a family coming undone... Brotherless Night is a spectacular work of historical fiction: thoroughly researched, brimming with outrage and compassion, and full of indelible imagery' Guardian
WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2024
WINNER OF THE CAROL SHIELDS PRIZE FOR FICTION
'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?
"With immense compassion and deep moral complexity, V. V. Ganeshananthan brings us an achingly moving portrait of individual and societal grief. "I want you to understand," the narrator of BROTHERLESS NIGHT insists, and by the end of this blazingly brilliant novel, we do: that in a world full of turmoil, human connections and shared stories can teach us how - and as importantly, why - to survive" 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
'An unforgettable account of a country and a family coming undone... Brotherless Night is a spectacular work of historical fiction: thoroughly researched, brimming with outrage and compassion, and full of indelible imagery' Guardian
Reviews / Votes
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 V.V. Ganeshananthan's novel Brotherless Night reveals the moral nuances of violence, ever belied by black-and-white terminology * The New York Times *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Penguin Books Ltd
Dimensions
Height: 218 mm
Width: 138 mm
Thickness: 40 mm
Weight
460 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-241-61104-3 (9780241611043)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
V. V. Ganeshananthan is the author of Love Marriage, which was longlisted for the Women's Prize in 2008. Her work has appeared in Granta, The New York Times, and The Atlantic Monthly, among others. BROTHERLESS NIGHT draws on 16 years of research into the Sri Lankan civil war. Since 2017, Ganeshananthan has co-hosted a podcast called FICTION/NON/FICTION with novelist Whitney Terrell, about the intersection of literature and the news, featuring writers like Marlon James, Madeline Miller and Jia Tolentino. She teaches in the MFA program at the University of Minnesota.