A Passage North

Service95 Recommends is the home of the books we're loving and reviews from our contributors. A Passage North by Anuk Arudpragasam follows one young man as he contemplates Sri Lanka's civil war in a detailed yet challenging exploration of violence and memory.

What We Say: "A Passage North by Anuk Arudpragasam is an introspective novel that delves into the emotional and psychological toll of war, grief and trauma. Set in post-war Sri Lanka, the story follows Krishan, a young man who travels to attend the funeral of Rani, an elderly caretaker who had looked after his grandmother. On the journey, he reflects on the weight of her mental suffering following the loss of her two sons in the war. Through meditations on life, death and memory, the novel explores the impacts of her deep traumatic scars and the ways in which memory can have an acute effect on mental health." – Hena Sharma

What They Say: "A Passage North is written with scrupulous attention to nuance and detail... at its center is an exquisite form of noticing, a way of rendering consciousness and handling time that connects Arudpragasam to the great novelists of the past." – Colm Toíbín

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Hena Sharma is Picture Researcher at Service95