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Cereus Blooms at Night

Penguin Modern Classics Edition

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Cereus Blooms at Night

Written by: Shani Mootoo
Narrated by: Shaquille James-Hosten
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About this listen

Finalist for the Giller Prize

Finalist for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize

Bold and lyrical, sensual and highly charged, Cereus Blooms at Night is the beautifully written, sensational first novel by Shani Mootoo, one of Canada’s most exciting literary voices.

At the core of this haunting multigenerational novel are the shifting faces of Mala - adventurer and protector, recluse, and madwoman. Told by the engaging voice of Tyler, Mala’s vivacious male caretaker at the Paradise Alms House, Cereus Blooms at Night is layered with unforgettable scenes of a world where love and treachery collide.

©2009 Shani Mootoo (P)2022 McClelland & Stewart Literary Fiction Fiction
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What the critics say

“Dazzling.... Mootoo creates a dense Asian-Caribbean world of buried secrets and desperate memories, a hothouse in which stories grow as lushly as flowers.” (Books in Canada)

“The passion of the characters, their insistence to live, to find joy despite the tyranny under which they conduct their lives, makes Cereus Blooms at Night remarkable.” (Shyam Selvadurai, author of Funny Boy)

“[Mootoo's] language and characters seduce us away to a mythic place that is, by turns, as sweet as the first knowing of love and as hard as a callous blow. Inside the grand sweep of the story are the finely tuned details which mark a brilliant storyteller.” (Jewelle Gomez)

What listeners say about Cereus Blooms at Night

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An incredible and powerful novel - Queer Caribbean must read!

Mootoo’s Cereus Blooms at Night is a terrifically well written fiction piece set in the imaginary land of Lantanacamara, and turning each page leaves you hungry for more. Mootoo is amazingly gifted in crafting worlds with words and the work brings to light the unspoken truths of the Caribbean colonialism tried (and continues trying) to sweep under the rug: queerness and gender issues. Some scenes are a bit intense.

Shaquille James-Hosten’s narration was a delight and did justice to the Creolese and Caribbean English. I’m so glad it wasn’t read with a North American or British accent.

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