Winner of the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize, this is the new novel from the author of ‘King of the Badgers’ and the Man Booker-shortlisted ‘The Northern Clemency’.

“At that time, there were children you weren't supposed to play with. You knew why. Their parents had been informers during the war. And it hadn't been long since you could have got into trouble for singing a song. My grandfather hid all his Bengali poetry in the cellar.

“I was a baby during the war. We stayed inside for months. All my aunts took turns in feeding me. I couldn't be heard to cry. You see, there were soldiers in the streets. They would have known what a crying baby meant. So I had to be kept silent. No, not everyone came out of the war alive.”

One family’s life, and a nation – Bangladesh – are uniquely created through conversation, sacrifice, songs, bonds, blood, bravery and jokes. Narrated by a young boy born into a savage civil war, ‘Scenes from Early Life’ is a heartbreaking, funny and gripping novel by one of our finest writers.

Am going to send this on as part of a body parts bookring/ray.

Scenes from an EAR(ly) life.

i was going to send some of the old science fiction books i've got i.e. heart of the rockies or the riddlemaster of hed but they are a bit too dated and unfortunately have that charity shop smell to them, so i'm going to send on this new book as it's the fairest thing to do.

Read the opening page - it looks like a good one :-)

On its way!

Chosen from the body parts bookring. Thank you!

Each chapter tells a different story from the childhood/family life of Zaved Mahmoud, the author's husband. Together they provide an interesting picture of how it was for this one family and some of their friends during the struggle for independence of Bangladesh. Worth reading but despite this being about his husband's family, Hensher doesn't seem to provide much emotional connection to the characters.

Sent to alexiapapa as a wishlist RABCK. Enjoy! :)

Thank you for even considering of sending me this wishlist book!