Description

The thirty-year civil war in Sri Lanka which ended in 2009 shook the island-nation. Now there is peace, rapid development – and a new government. But questions remain. What do Tamils and Sinhalese feel about their new country? What are their dreams for the future? Sri Lanka: The New Country is insightful and unusual reportage with the dispassionate eye of a foreign correspondent who covered the bloody conflict for two decades. It is anecdotal narrative at its best: about ordinary Sri Lankans, former Tamil Tigers, meeting LTTE chief V.Prabhakaran, princes, 'secular clergymen', army generals, Tamil Buddhists, 'Sinhalese Tamils', politicians and – sailors wary of ghosts. As the writer traverses Sri Lanka's formerly embattled north and east, international stereotypes about the nation are challenged. The book is a tribute to a wonderful people, as they pick up the pieces of their fragmented national identity and get on with building a new country.