V. V. Ganeshananthan

Sri Lanka 1981. Sextonåriga Sashi har en dröm - hon vill bli läkare. Men drömmen slås i spillror när ett blodigt inbördeskrig bryter ut på ön. Under de kommande decennierna ser Sashi hur hennes älskade bröder och vännen K dras in i den militanta befrielserörelsen Tamilska tigrarna. Våldet tilltar i landet och med det blir civilbefolkningens lidande allt större. Till slut blir även Sashi tvungen att välja sida. Ett val som innebär att hon ställs mot det som hon trodde var rätt, och den som en gång var vän blir fiende. V. V. Ganeshananthans prisbelönta roman är en hjärtskärande skildring av en ung kvinnas moraliska dilemma, som visar hur kriget splittrar både människor och familjer.

Sri Lanka 1981. Sextonåriga Sashi har en dröm - hon vill bli läkare. Men drömmen slås i spillror när ett blodigt inbördeskrig bryter ut på ön. Under de kommande decennierna ser Sashi hur hennes älskade bröder och vännen K dras in i den militanta befrielserörelsen Tamilska tigrarna. Våldet tilltar i landet och med det blir civilbefolkningens lidande allt större. Till slut blir även Sashi tvungen att välja sida. Ett val som innebär att hon ställs mot det som hon trodde var rätt, och den som en gång var vän blir fiende. V. V. Ganeshananthans prisbelönta roman är en hjärtskärande skildring av en ung kvinnas moraliska dilemma, som visar hur kriget splittrar både människor och familjer.

An outstanding debut novel of fractured family relationships in modern Sri Lanka, from the author of the Women's Prize-winning Brotherless Night'Beautifully written' Financial Times'Ganeshananthan is a superb writer' Sunday Times'Moving and intelligent' IndependentIn this globe-scattered Sri Lankan family, we speak only of two kinds of marriage. The first is the Arranged Marriage. The second is the Love Marriage. Reverse a family tree and branches of blood are whittled down to one person - in this case, first-generation American Yalini. The daughter of Sri Lankan immigrants, Yalini finds herself caught between the traditions of her ancestors and the lure of her own modern world. When she is summoned to Toronto to help care for her dying uncle, Kumaran, Yalini is forced to see that violence is not a relic of the Sri Lankan past, but very much a part of her Western present. While Kumaran's loved ones gather around him to say goodbye, Yalini traces her family's roots through a series of marriages - Love Marriage, Arranged Marriage, and all that lies in between.

New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice - A courageous young Sri Lankan woman tries to protect her dream of becoming a doctor in this "heartbreaking exploration of a family fractured by civil war" (Brit Bennett, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Vanishing Half)." This book, a careful, vivid exploration of what's lost within a community when life and thought collapse toward binary conflict, rang softly for me as a novel for our own country in this odd time."--Nathan Heller, The New Yorker AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR - WINNER OF THE CAROL SHIELDS PRIZE FOR FICTION, THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION, AND THE ASIAN PRIZE FOR FICTION - FINALIST FOR THE MINNESOTA BOOK AWARD Jaffna, 1981. Sixteen-year-old Sashi wants to become a doctor. But over the next decade, a vicious civil war tears through her home, and her dream spins off course as she sees her four beloved brothers and their friend K swept up in the mounting violence. Desperate to act, Sashi accepts K's invitation to work as a medic at a field hospital for the militant Tamil Tigers, who, following years of state discrimination and violence, are fighting for a separate homeland for Sri Lanka's Tamil minority. But after the Tigers murder one of her teachers and Indian peacekeepers arrive only to commit further atrocities, Sashi begins to question where she stands. When one of her medical school professors, a Tamil feminist and dissident, invites her to join a secret project documenting human rights violations, she embarks on a dangerous path that will change her forever. Set during the early years of Sri Lanka's three-decade civil war, Brotherless Night is a heartrending portrait of one woman's moral journey and a testament to both the enduring impact of war and the bonds of home.

In this globe-scattered Sri Lankan family, we speak of only two kinds of marriage. The first is the Arranged Marriage. The second is the Love Marriage. In reality, there is a whole spectrum in between, but most of us spend years running away from the first toward the second. p. 3] The daughter of Sri Lankan immigrants who left their collapsing country and married in America, Yalini finds herself caught between the traditions of her ancestors and the lure of her own modern world. But when she is summoned to Toronto to help care for her dying uncle, Kumaran, a former member of the militant Tamil Tigers, Yalini is forced to see that violence is not a relic of the Sri Lankan past, but very much a part of her Western present. While Kumaran's loved ones gather around him to say goodbye, Yalini traces her family's roots-and the conflicts facing them as ethnic Tamils-through a series of marriages. Now, as Kumaran's death and his daughter's politically motivated nuptials edge closer, Yalini must decide where she stands. Lyrical and innovative, V. V. Ganeshananthan's novel brilliantly unfolds how generations of struggle both form and fractures families. Praise for Love Marriage"A beautiful first novel. This intricately woven tale, with its universal themes of love and estrangement, presents an exciting new voice in American literature." -Yiyun Li, author of A Thousand Years of Good Prayers "Complex and moving . . . an impressive debut."-Daniel Alarc n, author of Lost City Radio "V. V. Ganeshananthan has given us a riveting picture of the intersections of love and war that shape us all. A debut of incredible passion and wisdom." -Rebecca Johns, author of Icebergs "At its best and simplest, Ganeshananthan can be profoundly moving. She captures the pain of exile poignantly." --The San Francisco Chronicle"Ganeshananthan has created a slow-burning and beautifully written debut in Love Marriage. It is an evocative examination of Sri Lankan cultural mores, and the way one family is affected by love and war" -- The Financial Times"Poignant and authentic.... Insight gained into Toronto's Tamil community is a welcome bonus in this gem of a book by a young writer who is sure to present more thought-provoking, entertaining prose in the future." --The Toronto Star"The book is at times witty and always beautifully written" -- The Irish Times"Innovative....this is an ambitious family drama about an underreported part of the world, filled with well-shaded characters and] gorgeous flourish... Buy it." -- New York Magazine "As if she were stringing a necklace of bright beads, the author relates the stories of Yalini's Sri Lankan forebears in lapidary folkloric narratives... What she does here, she does quite affectingly." -- The Boston Globe "In spare, lyrical prose, V. V. Ganeshananthan's debut novel tells the story of two Sri Lankan Tamil families over four generations who, despite civil war and displacement, are irrevocably joined by marriage and tradition.... Powerful." -- Ms. Magazine