Brotherless Night
Winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2024
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4.5 • 18 Ratings
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
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
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ganeshananthan (Love Marriage) offers a searing and intimate depiction of the Sri Lankan civil war from the point of view of an aspiring doctor. In 1981, 15-year-old Sashi Kulenthiren is studying for her A Levels. Her father, a civil servant, works far from their home in Jaffna, leaving her, her mother, and four brothers on their own. After not earning high enough marks to enroll in medical school, Sashi nevertheless continues her studies. While living with her grandmother and older brother, Niranjan, growing separatist sentiment among the northern Tamils leads to riots, and Niranjan disappears. Later, Sashi wins admittance to medical school and there is recruited by her childhood neighbor and crush, K, to work in the makeshift infirmary for the cadres, and two of her brothers join the Tigers. Sashi also finds a mentor in Anjali, a former Tiger supporter who encourages her to start a feminist reading group. As both the Tigers and the Indian peacekeepers commit atrocities, and Sashi's non-Tiger younger brother is detained by the government, she juggles an increasingly grueling schedule and her family urges her to immigrate to England. Ganeshananthan credibly captures the horrors and pain of the conflict felt by those caught between loyalties. It all makes for a convincing and illuminating war novel.
