Starry Starry Night: a novel

Out of the frayed filaments of the yarn of memory, a cohesive tale is spun.

In Starry Starry Night, Shani Mootoo gives us the singular voice of Anju Goshal, a young girl living in 1960s Trinidad. Spanning her life between the ages of four and twelve, we experience the world just as Anju does, coming to understand she has evolved into a keen observer because her safety depends on it. Through her clear-eyed perspective, the reader is fully transported and becomes both a witness to and participant in Anju’s negotiations of an unexpectedly new and complex life.

Starry Starry Night illuminates the experiences of a well-off and socially advancing family during the turn of a country's fortunes. Thoughtfully articulated via the innocent commentary of a child, the book tackles larger issues of family, loss, and trauma. It relays the story of a British colony just before and after its independence and touches on the racial and class problems faced as a result of colonialism.

Beautifully crafted and rich with sumptuous detail, this unique narrative coalesces into a portrait of a child who, despite privileged appearances, must become independent and fend for herself. It also depicts adults who, while so wrapped up in their own dramas, fail to see the needs of the children who depend on them. Starry Starry Night is an innovative and revelatory work of autofiction from a celebrated voice in contemporary fiction.

SHANI MOOTOO is the author of six novels, three collections of poetry, and one short story collection. She is a four-time Giller Prize nominee, and her work has been long and shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the Lambda Literary Prize, and the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. She has been awarded the Doctor of Letters honoris causa degree from Western University, is a recipient of Lambda Literary's James Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelist Prize, the Writers' Trust Engel Findley Award, and Library and Archives Canada Scholar Award. Mootoo was born in Ireland, raised in Trinidad, and lives in Southern Ontario, Canada.

ISBN: 9781771669566
Format: Paperback
Pages: 360
Publisher: Book*hug Press
Published: September 23, 2025

"Starry Starry Night will endure. Shani Mootoo gives us a novel that is achingly alive, a portrait of the artist, a study of the languages instilled in us and the languages we must find, a living example of how art can breathe worlds, remembered, discovered, betrayed, beloved, shared, into life. As soon as the novel ended I wanted to begin again. This is Shani Mootoo’s masterpiece.” —Madeleine Thien, author of The Book of Records"Starry Starry Night is a triumph of storytelling voice. Here, colonial history, fractured cultural space, and the sinuous complexities of kinship are each uniquely illuminated by the consciousness of a vulnerable child. This is a beloved book by a beloved author. This is Shani Mootoo at her most lyrical and intimate.” —David Chariandy, author of Brother