Evening Is the Whole Day

Set in Malaysia, this spellbinding first novel by an acclaimed young writer introduces us to the prosperous Rajasekharan family as it slowly peels away its closely guarded secrets. Translation rights have been sold in twelve territories. When the familys rubber-plantation servant girl is dismissed for unnamed crimes, it is only the latest in a series of precipitous losses that have shaken six-year-old Aashas life. In the space of several weeks her grandmother died under mysterious circumstances and her older sister, Uma, left for Columbia University, gone forever. Circling through years of family history to arrive at the moment of Umas departure stranding her worshipful younger sister in a family, and a country, slowly going to pieces"Evening Is the Whole Day" illuminates in heartbreaking detail one Indian immigrant familys layers of secrets and lies, while exposing the complex underbelly of Malaysia itself. Sweeping in scope, exuberantly lyrical, and masterfully constructed, Preeta Samarasans debut is a mesmerizing and vital achievement sure to earn her a place alongside Arundhati Roy, Kiran Desai, and Zadie Smith.


Genre: Literary Fiction

"A magical, exuberant tragic-comic vision of post-colonial Malaysia reminiscent of Rushdie and Roy. In prose of acrobatic grace, Samarasan conjures a vibrant portrait, by turns intimate and sweeping, of characters and a country coming of age. The debut of a significant, and thrilling new talent." - Peter Ho Davies

"Preeta Samarasan's passionate, striking book, stunned with light and heat, is full of the memory of enchantment and the enchantment of memory. Samarasan cultivates with brilliance the taut battle between the public and familial being, and the hidden and fragile inner self, trapped in a world of myth and mystery." - Susanna Moore

"A wonderfully engaging novel, poignant yet comical, about the contradictions and hazards inherent in a modern, postcolonial world." - M G Vassanji