Super Short Summary

In Anil’s Ghost, Michael Ondaatje explores the trauma of the Sri Lankan civil war of the 1980s and 1990s. Anil Tissera, a forensic pathologist working with human rights organizations, returns to Sri Lanka after 15 years. Tasked with investigating government-sponsored violence, Anil and her team discover a recently murdered body at a sixth-century burial site. They reconstruct the victim's face to identify him, which provokes government anger. Sensitive topics in the book include trauma and death by suicide.