Condition: Very Good

352 pages, Paperback

Priyanthi Silva and her brother, Hermantha, grow up in the beautiful Colombo neighbourhood of Araliya Gardens. Priyanthi falls in love with her neighbours’ son, Niranjan. In a climate of political tension and ethnic divisions, they must keep their love a secret. On a hot July day, the city erupts in violence with rampaging mobs, looting and murder and the consequences for their relationship are heartbreaking.

Priyanthi Silva is born in Sri Lanka into a peaceful, loving Sinhalese family, but into a turbulent country dogged by religious and political tensions. She and her brother Hemantha grow up in Araliya Gardens, a tropical paradise full of orchids and mango trees. Their neighbours are Christian Tamils whose gentle, handsome son Niranjan is Hemantha’s best friend. When Priyanthi is older, the two families spend a holiday together, and by the time they return home Priyanthi and Niranjan have fallen in love. But it is an unthinkable match to both their families, and to a society riven with ethnic divisions. On a hot July day that year the streets of Colombo explode into frenzied violence as mobs begin to hunt and murder Tamils and burn and loot their property. The dark secret Priyanthi and Niranjan have been hiding leads to betrayal and tragedy, as an inferno of hatred overcomes their peaceful neighbourhood.