LoveReading Says
Simply breathtaking, both in its epic intensity and intimate storytelling. As civil war breaks out in Sri Lanka, one family finds itself breaking into pieces. The focus remains on 16 year old Sashi throughout as her dreams of becoming a doctor take her in an unexpected direction. While this is fiction, it is all too easy to imagine the impact the conflict would have had on families and communities. V.V. Ganeshananthan writes with an exquisitely tender and compassionate hand as she takes us into the harsh reality of war. Once I had finished the tale I began to research the Sri Lankan cilvil war and the wounds that are still being felt. I always know that a novel has really touched me when I feel inspired to explore further. I entered the novel and walked into heartbreak, desperation, emotional strength, and an abiding love for the people I met. Sashi and her brothers, and the community of Jaffna will stay with me. A LoveReading Star Book and Liz Pick of the Month, Brotherless Night is both beautiful and heart-wrenching, I can recommend it with every fibre of my being.
Liz Robinson
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V. V. Ganeshananthan Press Reviews
V.V. Ganeshananthan's novel Brotherless Night reveals the moral nuances of violence, ever belied by black-and-white terminology . . . Perhaps Ganeshananthan's finest achievement is showing, with meticulous accuracy, what it feels like to inhabit a day-to-day life onto which someone else, from the privilege of great distance, can throw a word like terrorism, and be done - The New York Times
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. 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 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
"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 RODHAM, via Twitter
'V.V. Ganeshananthan's novel Brotherless Night reveals the moral nuances of violence, ever belied by black-and-white terminology' New York Times
