Book of the Week: BROTHERLESS NIGHT by V. V. Ganeshananthan
Winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction Brotherless Night was described by the judges as ‘A powerful book that has the intimacy of memoir, the range and ambition of an epic, and tells a truly unforgettable story about the Sri Lankan civil war.’
It’s the story of sixteen-year-old Sashi who wants to become a doctor. But over the next decade, a vicious civil war tears through her home, and her dream spins off course as she sees her four beloved brothers and their friend K swept up in the mounting violence. Desperate to act, Sashi accepts K's invitation to work as a medic at a field hospital for the militant Tamil Tigers, who, following years of state discrimination and violence, are fighting for a separate homeland for Sri Lanka's Tamil minority. But after the Tigers murder one of her teachers and Indian peacekeepers arrive only to commit further atrocities, Sashi begins to question where she stands. She must ask herself — is it possible for anyone to move through life without doing harm?
With accolades from authors and star reviews from critics, along with taking home the prize from a very strong shortlist (iwhich included Isabella Hammad’s Enter Ghost and Anne Enright’s The Wren, The Wren) this is one to add to your pile of excellent reading.
‘A blazingly brilliant novel . . . With immense compassion and deep moral complexity, V. V. Ganeshananthan brings us an achingly moving portrait of a world full of turmoil, but one in which human connections and shared stories can teach us how-and as importantly, why-to survive.’ — Celeste Ng, New York Times
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