Amma by Saraid de Silva
Amma by Saraid de Silva
“Annie Ano Fernando doesn’t care much for men”
And so begins a novel exploring trauma, displacement, queerness over three generations and three continents of the Sri Lankan diaspora.
*
1951, Singapore. Ten-year-old Josephina kills her abuser.
This event becomes the defining moment in the lives of Josephina, her daughter Sithara, and her granddaughter Annie.
The effects cascade through generations as Annie sets out across the world to discover what happened to fracture her family.
Set in Sri Lanka, Singapore, New Zealand, Australia and London, Amma is a novel about how the past lives with us forever, and wherever we are.
Written in sensuous, vivid prose, Amma is a story of the rich history and unknown future of the Sri Lankan diaspora - and of one family desperately trying to find peace.
Amma is an outstanding achievement by a compelling new voice – a book as shocking and revelatory as any family secret. It will leave you shaken and reminded of the power of love and loyalty. — Chris Tse, New Zealand Poet Laureate
“I couldn’t put it down. The novel moves between Singapore in 1951, New Zealand in 1984, and London in 2018 in a moving, heartbreaking (and repairing) family drama. The writing is gorgeous, transporting, powerful: this will be one of the big adult novels of the year.” Books of 2024, The Spinoff