01
Why it matters
Ganeshananthan centers civilian moral choices and women’s testimony within war.
A celebrated work
Brotherless Night
V. V. Ganeshananthan2024 selection · Literary fiction
Brotherless Night
Tamil medical student Sashi watches her family fracture during Sri Lanka’s civil war. Her brothers take different paths as state violence and militancy narrow neutrality.
02
Read this if…
You want deeply researched historical fiction about family under pressure.
03
Ideas inside
Sri Lankacivil warfamilytestimony
Get or borrow
Continue with this book.
Affiliate disclosure: We may earn a commission when you purchase through these links, at no extra cost to you. Editorial selections are independent.
Further reading
Read the critics
Independent reviews and criticism from established publications. Links open at the original outlet.
Primary record
Verify the selection
Every inclusion traces back to the organization that made the selection.
Women’s Prize for Fiction — official winner recordOfficial record↗ (opens in a new tab)Continue reading
From the same conversation
Hamnet
- Women’s Prize for Fiction
- NPR Books We Love
- +1
In Stratford, Agnes and her playwright husband build a family shattered by their son Hamnet’s death. The novel imagines the domestic life surrounding Hamlet.
Home Fire
- Women’s Prize for Fiction
British Muslim siblings are pulled into conflict with a home secretary’s ambitious son. Recruitment to ISIS turns private loyalty into a public crisis.
May We Be Forgiven
- Women’s Prize for Fiction
Historian Harold Silver’s life collapses after his volatile brother causes a fatal accident. Harold becomes responsible for a fractured household and improvised family.