The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

Description

by Shehan Karunatilaka

• Winner of the Booker Prize 2022
• Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew, winner of the 2012 Commonwealth Book Prize
• He’s written features on sport, music and travel for The Guardian, Rolling Stone, Wisden, GQ, Conde Nast and National Geographic.

Colombo, 1990. Maali Almeida, war photographer, gambler and closet queen, 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. In a country 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 contact the man and woman he loves most and lead them to the photos that will rock Sri Lanka.

Ten years after his prizewinning novel Chinaman established him as one of Sri Lanka’s foremost authors, Shehan Karunatilaka is back with a searing satire and state-of-the-nation epic that proves yet again that the best fiction offers the deeper truth.

Reviews

‘This magic realist (and often funny) novel fizzes with energy and ideas… Imagine a mash-up of Stranger Things and Salman Rushdie.’ Robbie Millen, Times

‘Shehan Karunatilaka’s epic novel is a powerful evocation of Sri Lanka’s dark and brutal past.’ Lucy Popescu, Financial Times

‘Brilliant…rollicking…a pleasure to read. Karunatilaka writes with tinder-dry wit and an unfaltering ear for prose cadences.’ Kate McLoughlin, TLS

‘A brave and brilliantly inventive novel, full of energy, about a mad bad world in a dark time.’ Romesh Gunesekera, author of Reef and Monkfish Moon

‘The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida is dazzling. Shehan Karunatilaka’s use of Sri Lankan folk mythology is truly original … his exuberant language and humour keeps this book buoyant and a joy to read.’ Shyam Selvadurai, author of Funny Boy

‘Karunatilaka is a fearless writer. It also helps that he is astonishingly funny.’ Roshan Ali, Indian Express

‘As far as Sri Lankan Anglophone literature is concerned, this is as good as it gets … I felt something I have not felt a long time in my readings: catharsis.’ Gazala Anver, Roar Media

‘Impressive … a tighter expression of his distinctive prose and an even more glaring mirror of Sri Lanka.’ Pasan Jayasinghe, The Hindu

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.

Media

Shehan has published two novels and three children’s books, including Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew, winner of the 2012 Commonwealth Book Prize, and The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, short-listed for the 2022 Booker Prize.

He’s also written features on sport, music and travel for The Guardian, Rolling Stone, Wisden, GQ, Conde Nast and National Geographic. He has over 20 years’ experience working for ad agencies, tech firms, media houses, start-ups and multinationals across Singapore, London, Colombo, Sydney and Amsterdam.