Description

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 EDWARD STANFORD ‘FICTION WITH A SENSE OF PLACE’ AWARD

Places remember us…

‘An important, ambitious, and accomplished novel. Sudbanthad deftly sweeps us up in a tale that paints a twin portrait: of a megacity like those so many of us call home and of a world where sanctuary is increasingly hard to come by’ Mohsin Hamid

A missionary begs to be sent home.
A jazz pianist is hired to perform for ghosts.
An army colonel smells the food of home for the last time.
A girl designs herself a new face.
An old woman uploads her consciousness.

Bangkok Wakes to Rain is an intricately plotted novel where characters and stories are linked by place, not time. As the novel builds to a futuristic crescendo, moments of intimacy serve to remind us that no matter what the ebb of time may change, we humans persevere.

Praise for Bangkok Wakes to Rain:

‘Compelling’ Financial Times

‘Breathtakingly lovely’ Kirkus

‘A sumptuous accomplishment’ Esquire

‘A simple, ingenious conceit’ Alexander Chee

‘Elegant and restrained’ Wall Street Journal

‘Saturated in the senses’ Claire Vaye Watkins

‘A swirling, always surprising storytelling structure’ Guardian

‘An original and quietly memorable reading experience’ Washington Post

‘Beautifully textured and rich with a sense of place’ Karen Walker Thompson

‘Reading this book feels like waking up to a singular and important new voice’ Rajesh Parameswaran

Publisher Review

Pitchaya Sudbanthad's beautiful, ambitious first novel Bangkok Wakes To Rain moves with an elegant restlessness that seems to match the city's own. Reading this book feels like waking to a singular and important new voice -- Rajesh Parameswaran, author of I Am An Executioner There's a simple, ingenious conceit to this book - the stories a house can contain, from Bangkok's colonial past to its antediluvian future. This is a bold and tender novel about the unforgivable and the unforgiven, and how to live past what you thought you could survive. Sudbanthad arrives to us already a masterful innovator of the form-a startlingly original debut. -- Alexander Chee, author of The Queen of the Night Beautifully textured and rich with a sense of place, this is a big, ambitious book. I love the way Sudbanthad so compellingly captures not only the long arcs of these lives-but also the smallest moments, and how those moments linger in memory, how they haunt. -- Karen Thompson Walker, author of The Age of Miracles Beautifully textured and rich with a sense of place -- Karen Walker Thompson An important, ambitious, and accomplished novel -- Mohsin Hamid