Passage North

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2021

''Mesmerizing, political, intimate, unafraid - this is a superb novel... that pays such close, intelligent attention to the world we all live in'' Sunjeev Sahota, author of the Booker shortlisted The Year of the Runaways

It begins with a message: a telephone call informing Krishan that his grandmother''s former caregiver has died. As Krishan makes the long journey by train from the Sri Lankan capital into the war-torn Northern Province for the funeral, so he travels into the soul of a country devastated by civil war.

A Passage North is a poignant memorial to the dead and an exploration of the unattainable distances between who we are and what we seek.

''Its world is the deeply-layered, rich interior of its protagonist''s mind but also contemporary Sri Lanka itself, war-scarred, traumatized ... [It] connects Arudpragasam to the great novelists of the past'' Colm Tóibín, bestselling author of Brooklyn