Starry Starry Night by Shani Mootoo

From celebrated writer Shani Mootoo comes an innovative and revelatory work of autofiction about family secrets, trauma, race, class, and loss.

In Starry Starry Night, Mootoo gives us the singular voice of Anju Ghoshal, a young girl living in 1960s Trinidad. Through Anju’s innocent and clear-eyed observations, the reader becomes both a witness to and a participant in her negotiations of an unexpectedly new and complex life, spanning from the ages of four to twelve.

Set against the backdrop of a politically exciting time in Trinidad’s history, just before and after it gained independence, we meet Anju’s beloved Ma and Pa and her socially advancing family. While preoccupied with their own dramas, the adults around her often fail to recognize the needs of the children who depend on them.

Beautifully crafted and rich with sumptuous detail, this unique narrative coalesces into a portrait of a child who, despite her privileged appearance, must ultimately fend for herself because her safety depends on it.

Praise for Starry Starry Night

“Starry Starry Night will endure. Mootoo gives us a novel that is achingly alive, a portrait of the artist, a study of the languages instilled in us and the languages we must find, a living example of how art can breathe worlds, remembered, discovered, betrayed, beloved, shared, into life. As soon as the novel ended I wanted to begin again. This is Shani Mootoo’s masterpiece.” —Madeleine Thien, author of The Book of Records

“Starry Starry Night is a triumph of storytelling voice. Here, colonial history, fractured cultural space, and the sinuous complexities of kinship are each uniquely illuminated by the consciousness of a vulnerable child. This is a beloved book by a beloved author. This is Shani Mootoo at her most lyrical and intimate.” —David Chariandy, author of Brother

Press Coverage

“In Mootoo’s sensitive and tender portrait of childhood, Anjula’s acculturation builds to an aching question: ‘If everything dies, why does it have to go through the whole of living to get to dying?'” —Moez Surani, The Grind

2025 Fall Preview: Fiction —Quill & Quire

50 Canadian fiction books we’re excited about this fall —CBC Books

Most Anticipated: Our 2025 Fall Fiction Preview —49th Shelf

Canadian Books in the Spotlight on the Inaugural CIBA Booksellers’ List —49th Shelf

The Best Books of Fall 2025: The ten titles that The Walrus can’t stop thinking about —The Walrus

“Starry Starry Night reminds us what childhood feels like, but it also reminds us how clearly children see and how frequently we underestimate them.” —Amarah Hasham-Steele, Power Corporation of Canada fellow for emerging BIPOC journalists, for The Walrus

Why I Wrote This Book: Shani Mootoo —The Miramichi Reader

Excerpt: Starry Starry Night by Shani Mootoo —The Miramichi Reader

“The combination of Mootoo’s presence as a skilled storyteller and Anju’s earnest, energetic voice creates an immersive and moving investigation of how, as children, we are shaped by the overlapping scales of family and national history.” —Eva Crocker, Hamilton Review of Books

I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You: An Interview with Shani Mootoo and an Excerpt from Starry Starry Night —Send My Love to Anyone

“This was a beautiful novel. I loved what Mootoo did here: the writing is so true to childhood and excellently executed. Starry Starry Night was a fantastic story.” —Alison Manley, The Miramichi Reader

“Starry Starry Night is a stunning example of what “show don’t tell” can do, the narrative so steeped in Anju’s perspective that the reader feels her experiences viscerally.” —Kerry Clare, Pickle Me This

61 books to lose yourself in this fall —Globe and Mail

“The title’s invocation of Van Gogh’s painting proves apt. Like the artist’s swirling night sky, Mootoo’s prose contains turbulence within careful composition. The result resembles pointillism: individual impressions that cohere into recognizable forms only when viewed from proper distance.” —Selena Mercuri, The BC Review

On Our Radar: Bittersweet Nostalgia, Time Travel, 1960s’ Trinidad, Willow Witches, and More! —49th Shelf

What We’re Reading: Staff Writers’ Picks, Fall and Future —Hamilton Review of Books

“Starry, Starry Night is a masterpiece and one that will stay with me for a long, long time. Exquisite. Unforgettable. A precious gift.” —Justine Abigail Yu, 49th Shelf

12 or 20 (second series) questions with Shani Mootoo —rob mclennan

“A novel of remembering, of the times in our lives we carry around like a precious and hefty rock in our back pocket. A novel about learning to be—for ourselves—who we want to be.” —Junction Reads

The best Canadian fiction of 2025 —CBC Books

Our Top Fiction of 2025 —49th Shelf

Kerry Clare’s Top Three Books of 2025 —The Next Chapter with Antonio Michael Downing