Introducing a major literary voice. This beautiful, timely novel explores love between brothers, between an immigrant family stretched to breaking point and the senseless loss of lives cut short
WINNER OF THE ROGERS WRITERS' TRUST FICTION PRIZE
LONGLISTED FOR THE SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE
Michael and Francis are the bright, ambitious sons of Trinidadian immigrants. Their father has disappeared and their mother works triple shifts so that her boys might fulfil the elusive promise of their adopted home. Coming of age in the deprived outskirts of a sprawling city, the brothers must battle against the careless prejudices and low expectations with which they are confronted on a daily basis.
While Francis aspires to a future in music, Michael dreams of Aisha, the smartest girl in their school, whose eyes are firmly set on a life elsewhere. But the hopes of all three are violently, irrevocably thwarted by a tragic event one sweltering summer night.
In luminous prose David Chariandy builds a quietly devastating story about the powerful love between a mother and her sons. Brother explores the impact of race, masculinity and the senseless loss of lives cut short by the shot of a gun. Timely and important, it marks the arrival of a brilliant new literary voice.
