Starry Starry Night

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From celebrated writer Shani Mootoo comes an innovative and revelatory work of autofiction about family secrets, trauma, race, class, and loss.

In Starry Starry Night, Mootoo gives us the singular voice of Anju Ghoshal, a young girl living in 1960s Trinidad. Through Anju’s innocent and clear-eyed observations, the reader becomes both a witness to and a participant in her negotiations of an unexpectedly new and complex life, spanning from the ages of four to twelve.

Set against the backdrop of a politically exciting time in Trinidad’s history, just before and after it gained independence, we meet Anju’s beloved Ma and Pa and her socially advancing family. While preoccupied with their own dramas, the adults around her often fail to recognize the needs of the children who depend on them.

Beautifully crafted and rich with sumptuous detail, this unique narrative coalesces into a portrait of a child who, despite her privileged appearance, must ultimately fend for herself because her safety depends on it.

AUTHOR

Shani Mootoo

SHANI MOOTOO was born in Ireland and raised in Trinidad. Mootoo’s highly acclaimed writing includes the novels Cereus Blooms at Night and Polar Vortex, a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, as well as the poetry collections Cane | Fire and Oh Witness Dey!. Her poetry has appeared in Wasafiri, Poetry Magazine, and Room Magazine. She has been awarded the degree of Doctor of Letters honoris causa from Western University, is a recipient of Lambda Literary’s James Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelist Prize, and the Writers’ Trust Engel Findley Award. She lives in Southern Ontario, Canada.

Reviews

“The title’s invocation of Van Gogh’s painting proves apt. Like the artist’s swirling night sky, Mootoo’s prose contains turbulence within careful composition. The result resembles pointillism: individual impressions that cohere into recognizable forms only when viewed from proper distance.” —The BC Review

“Starry Starry Night is a stunning example of what “show don’t tell” can do, the narrative so steeped in Anju’s perspective that the reader feels her experiences viscerally.” —Pickle Me This

“Starry Starry Night reminds us what childhood feels like, but it also reminds us how clearly children see and how frequently we underestimate them.” —The Walrus

“This was a beautiful novel. I loved what Mootoo did here: the writing is so true to childhood and excellently executed. Starry Starry Night was a fantastic story.” —The Miramichi Reader

“The combination of Mootoo’s presence as a skilled storyteller and Anju’s earnest, energetic voice creates an immersive and moving investigation of how, as children, we are shaped by the overlapping scales of family and national history.” —Hamilton Review of Books

“Starry, Starry Night is a masterpiece and one that will stay with me for a long, long time. Exquisite. Unforgettable. A precious gift.” —49th Shelf

“In Mootoo’s sensitive and tender portrait of childhood, Anjula’s acculturation builds to an aching question: ‘If everything dies, why does it have to go through the whole of living to get to dying?’” —The Grind

“A novel of remembering, of the times in our lives we carry around like a precious and hefty rock in our back pocket. A novel about learning to be—for ourselves—who we want to be.” —Junction Reads