WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 2022

LONGLISTED FOR THE RSL ONDAATJE PRIZE 2023

A scathing satire set amidst the deadly turmoil of Sri Lanka during the civil war.

Colombo, 1990. Malinda Almeida, war photographer, adventurer and closeted gay man, wakes up dead in what seems to be a celestial visa office. His dismembered body sinks into the serene Beira Lake and he has no idea who killed him. In a time where scores are settled by deadly gangs, suicidal bombers, and hired assassins, the list of suspects is hopelessly long, as attested by the figures and ghosts with old grudges gathering around him.

But even in the afterlife, time is pressing on Malinda. He has seven moons to try to contact his two loved ones and guide them to a hidden cache of photos that will shake Sri Lanka.

Ten years after his award-winning novella Chinaman that established him as one of Sri Lanka's leading authors, Karunatilaka returns with an epic narrative filled with scathing humor and disturbing truths.

“Brings energy, imagery, and ideas into a wide, surreal vision of Sri Lanka's civil wars” - The Booker judges

“Recalls the scathing wit and surrealism of Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol or The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov… Karunatilaka has artistically rendered the horrifying period of his country's history” - Guardian

“Outstanding... the most significant work of Sri Lankan literature of the last decade.” - New European

Pages: 368, Publication Year: 0825, Dimensions: 21.3x21.3cm