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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

Publisher Review

V.V. Ganeshananthan's novel Brotherless Night reveals the moral nuances of violence, ever belied by black-and-white terminology * The New York Times * A beautiful, brilliant book... tender and fierce as it is mournful. It is unafraid to look directly at the worst of the violence and erasure we have perpetrated or allowed to happen, but is insistent that we can still choose to be better -- Danielle Evans, author of The Office of Historical Corrections Riveting, heartbreaking and extraordinary for both its empathetic gaze and its clear-eyed depiction of the brutality of war, Brotherless Night is a masterpiece * Star Tribune * Visceral, historical, emotional, it is 300 pages of must-read -- Women's Prize judge Anna Whitehouse Brotherless Night is my favorite kind of novel, one so rich and full of movement that it's only later I realize how much I have learned. V. V. Ganeshananthan drew me in from the very first line, and the intricacies of her characters' lives made it easy to stay -- Sara Novic, New York Times bestselling author of TRUE BIZ Prepare to have your heart well and truly pummelled by this searing story about a young Tamil woman growing up as the Sri Lankan civil war explodes around her . . . at times, it's hard to remember that this rich and nuanced novel isn't actually a memoir - so convincing is Sashi's voice and so compelling her story * Bookseller, Book of the Month (preview) * A careful, vivid exploration of what's lost within a community when life and thought collapse toward binary conflict [...] a novel for our own country in this odd time. * New Yorker * Through this moving story, Ganeshananthan traces the human aspects of war-the physical losses and tragedies as well as the conflicts of values that are often the true battlefields . . . [she] forces the reader to discard a binary description of the world in favor of a more complex, human one * BookPage, starred review * A searing and intimate depiction of the Sri Lankan civil war from the point of view of an aspiring doctor . . . 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 * Publishers Weekly * A beautifully written story of resilience, loss, human connection and survival amidst the complexities and violence of war * Ms Magazine * Sashi's storytelling is a perfect fit for the delicate balance she is forced to walk by virtue of living in a society where running afoul of the dominant forces, saying the wrong thing, leveling too impassioned a rebuke, can prove a capital offense -- Omar El Akkad * New York Times Book Review * A remarkable unflinching novel that delicately, with surgical precision, exposes the deep wound at the heart of a long cruel war -- Romesh Gunesekera, author of Reef A real eye-opener of a book * Good Housekeeping * Ganeshananthan is a superb writer...I wept at many points in this novel and I also wept when it was over * Sunday Times * When we return to New York two decades later we've begun to understand how the Tamil 'terrorists' defy this label as much as any other. Ganeshanathan triumphs in her portrait of them as complex individuals - 'people you might know or love' * Spectator * 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 A heart-breaking 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 Stunningly great -- Curtis Sittenfeld, bestselling author of RODHAM, via Twitter A beautiful, brilliant book - it gives an accounting of the unimaginable losses suffered by a family and by a country, but it is as tender and fierce as it is mournful. It is unafraid to look directly at the worst of the violence and erasure we have perpetrated or allowed to happen, but is insistent that we can still choose to be better -- Danielle Evans, author of The Office of Historical Corrections Brotherless Night is my favorite kind of novel, one so rich and full of movement that it's only later I realize how much I have learned. Ganeshananthan drew me in from the very first line, and the intricacies of her characters' lives made it easy to stay -- Sara Novic, author of True Biz