V.V. Ganeshananthan's novel Brotherless Night reveals the moral nuances of violence, ever belied by black-and-white terminology - The New York Times

A beautiful, brilliant book... 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

Riveting, heartbreaking and extraordinary for both its empathetic gaze and its clear-eyed depiction of the brutality of war, Brotherless Night is a masterpiece - Star Tribune

Visceral, historical, emotional, it is 300 pages of must-read -- Women's Prize judge Anna Whitehouse

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 careful, vivid exploration of what's lost within a community when life and thought collapse toward binary conflict [...] a novel for our own country in this odd time. - New Yorker

Through this moving story, Ganeshananthan traces the human aspects of war-the physical losses and tragedies as well as the conflicts of values that are often the true battlefields . . . [she] forces the reader to discard a binary description of the world in favor of a more complex, human one - BookPage, starred review

Brotherless Night is a spectacular work of historical fiction: thoroughly researched, brimming with outrage and compassion, and full of indelible imagery. - Guardian

A searing and intimate depiction of the Sri Lankan civil war from the point of view of an aspiring doctor . . . Ganeshananthan credibly captures the horrors and pain of the conflict felt by those caught between loyalties. It all makes for a convincing and illuminating war novel - Publishers Weekly

A beautifully written story of resilience, loss, human connection and survival amidst the complexities and violence of war - Ms Magazine

Sashi's storytelling is a perfect fit for the delicate balance she is forced to walk by virtue of living in a society where running afoul of the dominant forces, saying the wrong thing, leveling too impassioned a rebuke, can prove a capital offense -- Omar El Akkad - New York Times Book Review

A remarkable unflinching novel that delicately, with surgical precision, exposes the deep wound at the heart of a long cruel war -- Romesh Gunesekera, author of Reef

A real eye-opener of a book - Good Housekeeping

Ganeshananthan is a superb writer...I wept at many points in this novel and I also wept when it was over - Sunday Times

When we return to New York two decades later we've begun to understand how the Tamil 'terrorists' defy this label as much as any other. Ganeshanathan triumphs in her portrait of them as complex individuals - 'people you might know or love' - Spectator



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. Ganeshananthan drew me in from the very first line, and the intricacies of her characters' lives made it easy to stay -- Sara Novic, author of True Biz

V. V. Ganeshananthan is the author of Love Marriage, which was longlisted for the Women's Prize in 2008. Her work has appeared in Granta, The New York Times, and The Atlantic Monthly, among others. BROTHERLESS NIGHT draws on 16 years of research into the Sri Lankan civil war. Since 2017, Ganeshananthan has co-hosted a podcast called FICTION/NON/FICTION with novelist Whitney Terrell, featuring writers like Marlon James, Madeline Miller and Jia Tolentino. She teaches in the MFA program at the University of Minnesota.