Dogs at the Perimeter | Granta

  • Published: 07/02/2013
  • ISBN: 9781847084910
  • 129x20mm
  • 272 pages

Dogs at the Perimeter

Madeleine Thien

One starless night Janie’s childhood was swept away by the terrors of the Khmer Rouge. Exiled from Phnom Penh, Janie and her family were forced to live out in the open: cold, hungry and under constant surveillance. Caught up in a political storm which brought starvation to millions, tore families apart and changed the world forever, Janie lost everyone she loved. Now, three decades later, Janie’s life in Montreal is unravelling.

Weaving together the threads of Janie’s life, Dogs at the Perimeter evokes totalitarianism through the eyes of a little girl, and draws a remarkable map of the mind’s battle with memory, loss and the horrors of war.

Fiction like this, clear-eyed and truthful, can give a shape to the chaos of history... The quiet elegance of Thien's writing makes a brutal story powerful and moving

Kate Saunders, The Times

Extremely moving and honest while maintaining lyricism and beautifully balanced prose. She takes you into the nightmare on Year Zero with extraordinary assurance

AL Kennedy

Thien is a gifted and compassionate author. Her writing is a pleasure to read, pared down yet highly charged, harrowing yet lyrical, peppered with acute observation and psychological insight, unforgettable

Yvvette Edwards, author of 'A Cupboard Full of Coats'

The Author

Madeleine Thien‘s novel Do Not Say We Have Nothing was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2016 and won the Scotiabank Giller Prize 2016 and the Governor General’s Award 2016. She is also the author of the story collection Simple Recipes (2001) and the novels Certainty (2006) and Dogs at the Perimeter (Granta, 2012), which was shortlisted for Berlin’s 2014 International Literature Award and won the Frankfurt Book Fair’s 2015 LiBeraturpreis. Her books and stories have been translated into 23 languages. The daughter of Malaysian-Chinese immigrants to Canada, she lives in Montreal.

More about the author →

From the Same Author

Madeleine Thien on Granta.com

Essays & Memoir | Granta 141

Introduction

Madeleine Thien & Catherine Leroux

Madeleine Thien and Catherine Leroux introduce Granta 141: Canada in both English and French.

Essays & Memoir | Granta 141

The Land In Winter

Madeleine Thien

Madeleine Thien on the occupation of Palestine.