The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida: Winner of the Booker Prize 2022 - Hardcover

Karunatilaka, Shehan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1908745908 ISBN 13: 9781908745903

Publisher: Sort of Books, 2022

Synopsis

WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 2022

LONGLISTED FOR THE RSL ONDAATJE PRIZE 2023

A searing satire set amid the murderous mayhem of Sri Lanka beset by civil war

Colombo, 1990. Maali Almeida, war photographer, gambler and closet gay, has woken up dead in what seems like a celestial visa office. His dismembered body is sinking in the serene Beira lake and he has no idea who killed him. At a time where scores are settled by death squads, suicide bombers and hired goons, the list of suspects is depressingly long, as the ghouls and ghosts with grudges who cluster round can attest.

But even in the afterlife, time is running out for Maali. He has seven moons to try and contact the man and woman he loves most and lead them to a hidden cache of photos that will rock Sri Lanka.

Ten years after his prizewinning novel Chinaman established him as one of Sri Lanka's foremost authors, Karunatilaka is back with a rip-roaring epic, full of mordant wit and disturbing truths.

'Fizzes with energy, imagery and ideas against a broad, surreal vision of the Sri Lankan civil wars' The Booker judges

'Recalls the mordant wit and surrealism of Nikolai Gogol's Dead Souls or Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita ... Karunatilaka has done artistic justice to a terrible period in his country's history' Guardian

'Outstanding... the most significant work of Sri Lankan fiction in a decade.' New European

About this title

About the Author

Shehan Karunatilaka is the multi-award winning author of Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew. The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida is his second novel. Born in Colombo, he studied in New Zealand and has lived and worked in London, Amsterdam and Singapore.

From the Back Cover

Colombo, 1990. Maali Almeida, war photographer, gambler and closet gay, has woken up dead in what seems like a celestial visa office. His dismembered body is sinking in the serene Beira lake and he has no idea who killed him. At a time where scores are settled by death squads, suicide bombers and hired goons, the list of suspects is depressingly long, as the ghouls and ghosts with grudges who cluster round can attest.

But even in the afterlife, time is running out for Maali. He has seven moons to try and contact the man and woman he loves most and lead them to a hidden cache of photos that will rock Sri Lanka.

Ten years after his prizewinning novel Chinaman established him as one of Sri Lanka's foremost authors, Karunatilaka is back with a rip-roaring epic, full of mordant wit and disturbing truths.

Edition details

• Publisher: Sort of Books
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1908745908
• ISBN 13: 9781908745903
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 368