WINNER OF THE SAGA PRIZE 1997: a literary award for trailblazing new Black British novelists

A shattering portrayal of family, guilt and unshakable bonds as a family's deepest secrets explosively unravel. When Anita finally returns home to London after a long absence, everything has changed. Her father is dead, her mother is away, and she and her sister Beth are alone together for the first time in years. They share a house.

They share a family. They share a past. Tentatively, they reach out to one another for connection, but the house echoes with words unspoken.

Dazzling and heart-breaking, Bernard and the Cloth Monkey is a searing portrait of family, a rebellion against silence and a testament to the human capacity for survival. 'A quietly outstanding work of fiction . .

. an exemplary novel' Bernardine Evaristo