V. V. Ganeshananthan

'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 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? "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

Brotherless Night

"Just because," he said. If you speak Tamil, you will know the single word he said, its ease and simplicity, and perhaps you can imagine how it made me feel.

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I want you to understand: it does not matter if you cannot imagine the future. Still, relentless, it comes.

"In this country of grief, the best kind of shelter is to be understood, to have someone stop next to me and, without asking anything, put their umbrella over us both, between us and the rain.

I had been spending all my time in a wider world where people did not really know me, and to be remembered here with such quiet love filled me with a warmth I had not known I needed.

“ I want to be a doctor to help as many people as possible," I said. Like my grandfather did, in Colombo. I think everyone deserves medicine. It's a kind of safety, and if I can make anyone feel safer, that's the kind of work I want to do".

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