In this novel, I was transported deep into the experiences of civilians who are inspired to action, either to defend their people or to serve all people. Thousands of Tamils were murdered, raped and attacked; homes and businesses were destroyed; and hundreds of thousands became refugees as they fled with nothing. People are horrific to each other, and yet their sacrifice for each other to pursue truth and their right to life is equally matched so that, somehow, balance is achieved. This novel makes heartbreakingly clear the horrific reality on the ground in Sri Lanka that those protestors (in Toronto and in major cities around the West) were trying to bring to the world’s attention.

Her work has appeared in Granta, The New York Times, and The Best American Nonrequired Reading, among other publications. It is a masterpiece, giving us one woman's perspective of the Sri Lankan Civil War, and simultaneously showing us how in that one perspective lies everything. Her story becomes a first-hand account of the life, violence and reality of this time as unrest and eventually a civil war breaks out around them.Certainly there are other great pieces of historical fiction that get this, but the majority do not. Hundreds of thousands of civilians were caught between the armies while the United Nations and the world watched without sending aid. Over one million were killed and millions of Sri Lankans, mainly minority Tamils, were displaced as refugees both inside the country and abroad.

But unspeakable tragedies begin in her country and with each passing day, the bloodshed moves closer to her front steps. As part of the Tamil minority, her family is expected to support the militant group the Tamil Tigers. When a patient, a victim of a horrific attack, wrecks her revenge in a dramatic way, Sashi is moved to become political. I loved the way the author pulled you in and occasionally just turned to as if you were just sitting there with her. The narrative pacing is flawless, the voice is irresistible, and the marriage of the two keeps the reader turning throughout.Brotherless Night succeeds in telling all its stories—the historical and the personal, the factual and the ethical—as one, and that narrative has echoes.

It is a loose history of the horrible impact of the civil war, and the toll it takes on countries, families, and in particular, one young lady with hopes and aspirations. 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. Living in our western cocoon of comfort and security we find it difficult to understand the relentless suffering of so many in other parts of the world. The whole thing centred around the attempts of the Tamil Tigers and their efforts to establish their rights.

Ganeshananthan (she/her) is the author of the novels Brotherless Night (a New York Times Editors’ Choice) and Love Marriage, which was longlisted for the Women’s Prize and named one of the best books of the year by The… More about V. Fairly early on in the book, a wave of anti-Tamil riots rips through Colombo, with Sinhalese mobs indiscriminately killing, raping, burning, looting and unleashing horror.

The relationship between the two, which begins with a searingly memorable encounter and develops into something neither fully platonic nor romantic, anchors many of the ugliest years of Sashi’s life, as war breaks out in her hometown. And then the government steps up its brutal repression of the Tamil people with a frenzy of mass murder, and the Tamil rise up in defense. Ganeshananthan’s linear storytelling and authentic-seeming narrator clarified the war’s complex history and made for an intimate exploration of how the war affected women.

The Tamil people become more and more outspoken about wanting their own leaders rather than the ruling Sinhalese majority. Sashi's med school studies and the impact of a professor there whom she sees as a role model help her to see life's complexities and to see her human behavior in a larger context.