The Story of a Brief Marriage

An unforgettable novel set during the final days of the Sri Lankan civil war, portraying the struggle to create a human relationship when being human has become impossible. Told in meditative, nuanced and powerful prose, this shattering novel marks the arrival of an extraordinary new literary voice.

From the Booker Prize-shortlisted author of A Passage NorthShortlisted for the Dylan Thomas PrizeWinner of the DSC Prize for South Asian LiteratureDinesh and Ganga meet and marry in the final days of the Sri Lankan civil war. For months their lives have been pared back to the essentials: eat, sleep, survive. Now, as the army draws ever closer, they begin to explore their new and unexpected connection - a fragile light to keep the war at bay.

Auteur
Anuk Arudpragasam is from Colombo, Sri Lanka and is currently working towards a doctorate in philosophy at Columbia University. He writes in English and Tamil. The Story of a Brief Marriage is his first novel.

Texte du rabat

Dinesh is a young man trapped on the frontlines between the Sri Lankan army and the Tamil Tigers. Desensitized to the horror all around him, life has been pared back to the essentials: eat, sleep, survive. All this changes when he is approached one morning by an older man who asks him to marry his daughter Ganga, hoping that victorious soldiers will be less likely to harm a married woman. For a few brief hours, Dinesh and Ganga tentatively explore their new and unexpected connection, trying to understand themselves and each other, until the war once more closes over them.

Told in meditative, nuanced and powerful prose, this shattering novel marks the arrival of an extraordinary new literary voice.