Scenes from early life - Philip Hensher

Winner of the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize, this is the new novel from the author of 'King of the Badgers' and the Man Booker-shortlisted 'The Northern Clemency'.

"At that time, there were children you weren't supposed to play with. You knew why. Their parents had been informers during the war. And it hadn't been long since you could have got into trouble for singing a song. My grandfather hid all his Bengali poetry in the cellar.

"I was a baby during the war. We stayed inside for months. All my aunts took turns in feeding me. I couldn't be heard to cry. You see, there were soldiers in the streets. They would have known what a crying baby meant. So I had to be kept silent. No, not everyone came out of the war alive."

One family's life, and a nation - Bangladesh - are uniquely created through conversation, sacrifice, songs, bonds, blood, bravery and jokes. Narrated by a young boy born into a savage civil war, 'Scenes from Early Life' is a heartbreaking, funny and gripping novel by one of our finest writers.