Beggar's Feast

Praise

“a multifaceted, engrossing story… Prepare for a verbal feast that will thoroughly entertain and satisfy, yet leave you hungering for more.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“. . . a parable for modernized, globalized, restless identity.”
— New York Journal of Books

"Boyagoda does a superb job of telling this century-long tale… It’s entertaining, with much insight into the life and times of that era in the East. Recommended."
— Historical Novels Review

“Rags-to-riches narratives seldom have much humbler starting points than the Ceylon village where Beggar’s Feast’s protagonist is born … He’s Naipaul’s Mr. Biswas as unapologetic success rather than embittered failure, Richler’s Duddy Kravitz followed far past his apprenticeship. If you’ve found a place in your heart for either of those complicated figures, make way for Sam Kandy.”
—The Gazette

“Boyagoda, a sharp and subtle writer, slips easily into many different characters’ heads and their internal rhythms, and lyrical lines abound … A satirical feast.”
—The Globe and Mail

 “[Boyagoda’s narrative voice] is as lush as the tropical landscape of Ceylon … The language is also charged with vitality and allows for the emergence, from time to time, of stark human truths.”
—National Post