Amma
Saraid de Silva

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Published: 2024

Longlisted for the 2025 Women's Prize for Fiction

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.

Listen to the audiobook here.

Leafy plant illustration

I didn’t want this book to end. It's a multi-generational story about a Sri Lankan woman, her daughter and granddaughter, spanning decades and countries from Sri Lanka to New Zealand. There are so many powerful scenes which have stayed with me long after I finished it and shows how societal judgements on women have changed over time.

Deborah Joseph

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