Cereus Blooms at Night

Martha Wilson is Canadian correspondent for the Japan Times (Tokyo) and
a Toronto-based freelance editor and writer.

From her narrow bed at the Paradise Alms House, the wordless Mala
Ramchandin seems like a woman with nothing in her future besides death.
The attentiveness of her caretaker, Tyler, begins to open small pathways
and to reconnect Mala to humanity. Mala’s fierceness, Tyler sees, has
not died; it’s merely trapped within the dry cage of her body. Under
his care, she and her memories are fanned into life.

Mala’s story includes the histories of her lost sister, Asha; her
father, Chandin Ramchandin, trained to be a Christian missionary and
“eager to have his Indian name replaced”; and her mother, Sarah, who
can neither forget nor ignore her feelings for her friend Lavinia
Thoroughly. Mala’s lover, Ambrose, is central to the unfolding events.


Mootoo’s voice is relentless, passionate, and always sure in this
mesmerizing, layered tale of family secrets.