The whole thing centred around the attempts of the Tamil Tigers and their efforts to establish their rights. This was a historical fiction novel based on the ongoing civil war in Sri Lanka from the early beginnings of it to current time. Imagine the places you grew up, the places you studied, places that belonged to your people, burned. Thank you Random House Publishing and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review. Nearly all the men and boys in Sashi's life join the Tamil Tigers and pain and loss become her only constants.

The writing of this historical fiction is beautiful but it doesn’t shy away from painting a realistic picture of the horrors of history. The narrative pacing is flawless, the voice is irresistible, and the marriage of the two keeps the reader turning throughout. India’s peacekeeping force tried to disarm both sides; the Tigers attacked them with suicide bombers. 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 --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. Follow Sashi from age 16 through medical school, as she volunteers as a field doctor, supports her parents and questions what she truly believes.You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. The book presents a feminist perspective on all of these events with one woman saying "Unlike men, [women] were not interested in credit, only success, and laid their plans accordingly. 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. When the beloved older brother is killed in an attack, two of her brothers and the friend join the Tamil Tigers. For now her focus is on passing her qualification exams to go to medical school -- a goal shared by her best friend and already reached by the maybe future boyfriend.

Also, Sashi wants to go to medical school and become a doctor and as war rages she has her fair share of hands on experience. 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. Neither is there any sense in trying to find a final answer to the question: who started it- was it the Sinhalese or the Tamils. who leaves medical school to become a leader in the Tamil Tigers and Anjali a medical school professor and highly principled human rights activist (evidently based on a real person).I often do not love historical fiction because it bends real and momentous events to fit some ultimately tiny story. Set in the early stages of Sri Lanka’s three-decade civil war, the author takes us through the turbulence of 1980s Jaffna/Colombo including Black July and its aftermath, combining historical fact with fiction. This is a book that feels like a whole world, filled with vital questions and the kind of wrenching heartbreak that stays with you long after the book has closed. The brothers except one and K become part of the Tamil Tigers, the rebellion against the Sinhalese who control the military, police and government. The characters had to choose between staying with their family, or joining forces with those who they felt would make a better future for their families.

As time progresses, she loses touch with her brothers, and events happen that are against her moral code. 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. Before I started reading Brotherless Night, I had read enough about the Sri Lankan civil war to know that the story would contain tragedy, as that war tore apart virtually every Tamil family in Sri Lanka.The best historical fiction novels don’t just tell a great story—they reveal a side of history that their readers may not be familiar with. A beautiful, brilliant book—it gives an accounting of the unimaginable losses suffered by a family and by a country, but it is as tender and fierce as it is mournful. This book is excellent and I would recommend it to anyone, although I must say it is not an easy read in parts but neither should it be.

The novel weaves a story largely set during the Sri Lankan Civil war and the many innocent lives that were torn apart by the various actors involved, all told through our protagonist Sashikala. The author does a very good job of explaining the Sri Lankan civil war, which most people outside the region know little about, and I appreciated her historical rigor. 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. By far, one of the most impactful, powerful books that I have ever read on a subject (the Sri Lanka civil war in the 1980s) that has been neglected for far too long.

She harbors a crush on K, a good friend of her brothers, and he’s there to help her during various trials of growing up. Desperate to act, she must ask herself: is it possible for anyone to move through life without doing harm? In the beginning years of the conflict, 1981, Sashi is growing up in Janka with her three brothers and parents living what seems to be a healthy and happy life.