Granta acquires second book from Arudpragasam

Granta Books has acquired a second novel from Anuk Arudpragasam titled A Passage North. Atudpragasam's The Story of a Brief Marriage was published by Granta in 2017. 

Deputy publishing director Laura Barber acquired UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding the Indian subcontinent) to the new book from Clare Alexander at Aitken Alexander on behalf of Anna Stein at ICM. US rights were acquired by Parisa Ebrahimi at Hogarth.

Set in contemporary Sri Lanka, A Passage North follows a young man as he sets out on a long train journey to attend the funeral of his grandmother's carer, Rani. As he travels into the formerly war-torn Tamil north, he reflects on Rani's, and the island's traumatic past, his own passionate and doomed relationship, and his longing to live a purposeful life, even amid tragedy.

Barber commented: "Written with precision and grace, Anuk Arudpragasam’s remarkable new novel renders one man's consciousness and the passage of time in immersive and poignant detail. It is a powerful response to war, and the emotional and moral demands it makes upon those who live in its wake. It is also a remarkable reckoning with mortality from one of the most searching and assured writers of his generation."