The seven moons of Maali Almeida

Winner of the 2022 Booker Prize, Maali Almeida's The Seven Moons is set among the living and the dead during the civil war in Sri Lanka. By creating a lush universe, Shehan Karunatilaka satirizes the political reality of his country and offers surprising reflections on the most profound human questions.

Colombo, Sri Lanka, 1990. Maali Almeida discovers in the worst possible way that there is an afterlife: he wakes up in the Interstice, a place full of confused and lost souls. In this purgatory of sorts, he discovers he was murdered and that his dismembered body is sinking in Lake Beira, but he has no idea who killed him. In an age when death squads, henchmen, and suicide bombers are responsible for settling accounts, the list of suspects is vast.

Maali was a war photographer, a gambling addict, and, despite having relationships with many men, never came out as gay. Before he died, he took photographs that could shake his country and kept them in envelopes, each represented by a playing card. To ensure his death is not in vain, he must contact the people he loves, guide them to the hidden location of the photographs, and play his final card. There's just one problem: if he wants to go to the Light, he must do so before the seventh moon.

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida is a novel steeped in fantasy and reality. Shehan Karunatilaka, one of Sri Lanka's most prominent authors, uses his biting humor to transform readers into witnesses to the brutality of the country's civil war. As we wander with Maali through the afterlife, we are confronted with disturbing truths about life and death.

“A book brimming with energy, images, and ideas against the panoramic and surreal backdrop of the Sri Lankan civil war.” — Booker Prize judges

“Filled with humor and pathos, Maali Almeida's The Seven Moons recalls the fierce wit and surrealism of Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita .” — The Guardian

“As his country faces its greatest crisis, a writer produces one of his greatest novels, a wonderful book about Sri Lanka, friendship, grief, and the afterlife.” — New European

“His supernatural fantasy produces some truly poignant moments.” — The Telegraph

"Karunatilaka returns with another impactful satire. Maali Almeida's Seven Moons is biting, ingenious, and brilliant." — The Economist