Reggae king Bob Marley was to perform at the Smile Jamaica concert to ease political tensions ahead of the country's general elections in 1976, when seven men from West Kingston stormed his house with machine guns on December 3 that year.
He survived and went on to perform at the free concert. But he left the country the next day and didn't return for two years.
Inspired by this murder attempt, Marlon James' "A Brief History of Seven Killings" takes the form of an imagined oral biography, told by ghosts, witnesses, killers, members of parliament, drug dealers, conmen, beauty queens, FBI and CIA agents, reporters, journalists, and even Keith Richards' drug dealer.
The story traverses strange landscapes and shady characters, as motivations are examined - and questions asked. Since his death on May 11, 1981, Marley's legend looms larger than ever, as evidenced by an ever-lengthening list of accomplishments attributable to his music, which identified oppressors and agitated for social change while allowing listeners to forget their troubles and dance.
Last night, James becomes the first ever Jamaican to win the Man Booker Prize for Fiction for his "A Brief History of Seven Killings", published by Oneworld Publishing and distributed by Pan Macmillan India.
