The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

By Shehan Karunatilaka

A war photographer traces the circumstances around his grisly death in a magical realism whodunit set amid Sri Lanka's civil war.

Format: Paperback
Pages: 432

- 

WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 2022

Colombo, 1990. Maali Almeida, war photographer, gambler and closet gay, 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.

At a time 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 try and contact the man and woman he loves most and lead them to a hidden cache of photos that will rock Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka's foremost author delivers a rip-roaring epic, full of mordant wit and disturbing truths.