Description

Set in the tea estates of Sri Lanka, Refuge evokes the plight of thedowntrodden Tamil labourers working on them. Their lives are a sharpcontrast to the lives of the urbane, whisky-drinking managers in their clubsand mansions.Slender, doe-eyed Valliamma, a Tamil labourer on one plantation, is inlove with Soma, a Sinhala fish vendor and the father of her illegitimateson. Valliamma is exploited by individuals, a brutal social and economicsystem and, ultimately, the politics of a state.Her fate symbolizes the dilemma and tragedy of her community, the socalled Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka. Struggling for a place in the land of herbirth and that of her child, caught between issues of race and language,Valliamma is denied the shelter and refuge she seeks there. The novelends as a journey begins, once more in search of refuge

Set in the tea estates of Sri Lanka, Refuge evokes the plight of thedowntrodden Tamil labourers working on them. Their lives are a sharpcontrast to the lives of the urbane, whisky-drinking managers in their clubsand mansions.Slender, doe-eyed Valliamma, a Tamil labourer on one plantation, is inlove with Soma, a Sinhala fish vendor and the father of her illegitimateson. Valliamma is exploited by individuals, a brutal social and economicsystem and, ultimately, the politics of a state.Her fate symbolizes the dilemma and tragedy of her community, the socalled Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka. Struggling for a place in the land of herbirth...  Read More