Warlight

A novel set in post-WW2 London about memory, family secrets, and lies, from the internationally acclaimed author of The English Patient. It follows Nathaniel and Rachel, who are abandoned by their parents and left in the care of The Moth, an enigmatic figure. A dozen years later, Nathaniel journeys through recollection, reality, and imagination to uncover the truth about their past.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 304 pages
Publication date: 04 April 2019
Publisher: Vintage Publishing

LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2018

An elegiac novel set in post-WW2 London, about memory, family secrets, and lies, from the internationally acclaimed author of The English Patient.

It is 1945, and London is still reeling from the Blitz. 14-year-old Nathaniel and his sister, Rachel, are seemingly abandoned by their parents, left in the care of an enigmatic figure named The Moth. They suspect he might be a criminal, and grow both more convinced and less concerned as they get to know his eccentric crew of friends: men and women, all who seem determined to protect Rachel and Nathaniel.

But are they really what and who they claim to be? A dozen years later, Nathaniel journeys through recollection, reality, and imagination to uncover all he didn't know or understand in that time, to piece together a story that feels something like the truth.

'A novel of shadowy brilliance'

'The Times'

'Fiction as rich, as beautiful, as melancholy as life itself, written in the visionary language of memory'

'Observer'

'Ondaatje brilliantly threads the mysteries and disguises and tangled loyalties and personal yearnings of the secret world... I haven't read a better novel this year'

'Telegraph'

Weight: 220g
Dimension: 129 x 196 x 19 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781784708344