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Many voices tell the story of the attempt on Bob Marley's life and its aftermath

A Brief History of Seven Killings

by Marlon James

2014688 pagesDemanding readFast pace
★ Booker Prize, 2015

An attempt on a reggae star's life, told by many voices

In 1976, gunmen attack a famous Jamaican singer at his home in Kingston. The novel uses dozens of narrators, from Kingston gangsters to a CIA agent and a rock journalist, to trace the aftermath over the following fifteen years. It won the 2015 Booker Prize.

More about this book

Who

Kingston gang members, a CIA agent, a journalist and a young woman called Nina Burgess.

World

Kingston, Jamaica, and New York, 1976 to 1991.

What makes it different

It has dozens of narrators, written in Jamaican patois and standard English.

Feel

Violent and electric.

See it on Amazon

Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition

Further reading

About the author

Marlon James1 book on Tori Books