Can we ever truly know the ones that we love? This is the question that Warlight seeks to answer, in this compelling story from the incomparable Michael Ondaatje (author of The English Patient). Readers across the world have come to know and love Ondaatje for his powerful stories told with measured, affecting prose, and this book is another wonderful addition to his works that will bring in a whole new legion of admiring readers.

Warlight tells the story of 14-year-old Nathaniel and his older sister Rachel, who are left in the care of an enigmatic man they call The Moth when their parents vanish to Singapore after World War Two. Left with their growing suspicions that their new guardian is not entirely who he seems, the two experience both an unlikely education and a kind of initiation into an underground world from the mysterious figures that walk in and out of The Moth’s life, leading them to question the true nature of their parents’ lives and disappearance. This is a mesmerising story of a life that can only be understood in retrospect, gorgeously written and layered with subtle meaning that will leave you bereft once you’ve turned the final page.