An outstanding debut novel of fractured family relationships in modern Sri Lanka. The narrator is Yalini, the result of the many marriages that have come before; but her own generation, dispersed by the violence in their home country in 1983, find themselves tackling markedly different cultural views of love, marriage and family. For those who enjoyed Jumpar Lahiri, Rohinton Mistry and Ondaatje's "Anil's Ghost", and will be entered for the 2008 Orange Prize.