Island of 1000 Mirrors

Author/Guide: Nayomi Munaweera

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The Sri Lankan civil war follows two families as one stays and the other flees to Los Angeles

ISBN: 978-1250043931
Genre: Fiction

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What you need to know before your trail

The story of two families living in Sri Lanka as the violent civil war tears the island apart.

Told by the women in the families, this is a story of heartbreak and inevitability. Yasodhara tells the story of her Sinhala family, They flee to Los Angeles but before she leaves, Yasodhara’s life becomes intertwined with a young Tamil girl by the name of Saraswathie.
She meanwhile, is living in the active war zone of Sri Lanka, and dreams of becoming a teacher.
This conflict will have repercussions for both girls in the most unexpected of ways.

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America/USA
E: CA - Los Angeles

Travel Guide

A short yet vivid tale of the Civil war in Sri Lanka and whilst the war itself is depicted and explored, it’s the human and emotional journey which resonates.

Yasodhara – ‘the Sinhala girl’

Colombo

Lives with her family in a nice house with a nice lifestyle in idyllic Colombo. Her life and that of her siblings is shaped by social hierarchies, their parents’ ambitions, love and the differences between Tamil and Sinhala people. Differences which will later lead to war.

This is the girl, along with her mother who escapes the war, and the island yet the island never leaves them –

“Sometimes when I am by myself, I miss the taste of the well at home. Water filtered through out small piece of earth, its exact mineral consistency , the taste of home.”

This is essentially their story – of fleeing one conflict and cultural wasteland only to fall into another –

“It is also one possible narrative of my island, But we are always interlopers into history, dropped into a story that has been going on far before we were born.”

Saraswathie – ‘The Tamil Girl’

Stays behind in Sri Lanka and despite dreams of being a teacher, she is arrested by a group of Sinhala soldiers and pulled into the very heart of the conflict that she has tried so hard to avoid. Her dreams are shattered and her life changed for ever.

But these are big big dreams for somebody living inside a war, so I don’t speak of them often, Sometimes I get this breathless feeling that the war is a living creature, something huge, with a pointed tongue and wicked claws.

Yasodhara and Saraswathi’s stories are like mirror images of each other. They each live a life which none of them have chosen and take on roles that neither one would have wanted for themselves or for each other. Home and exile, a sense of belonging and a desire to lead your own destiny – no matter who or where you are.