WARLIGHT

Michael Ondaatje

Ondaatje’s superb novel, his first since 2011, is a spy mystery and a coming-of-age tale set during the Blitz. The invented word “warlight” is elucidated late on: “during the Blitz, when there was just warlight, the river dark save for one dimmed orange light on bridges…” (Jonathan Cape)

Michael Ondaatje enters the longlist with his first novel in seven years