“Tea from Ceylon!”—those were the words that still ring in my ears from advertisements in the ’fifties, and they always evoked a picture of a magical, exotic island world with acres of rich green tea bushes somewhere beyond the swelling rollers of the Indian ocean. Today “Sri Lanka” doesn’t sound as romantic—but if I were to visit that land, I would be sure to take with me a copy of Dr Paramothayan’s book. The title Edge of the Lagoon are words, once again, to conjure with! And indeed, the book takes one to the heart of that magical, though turbulent land with its ancient myths and rich mixture of cultures.
This is a meticulous, academic, well-researched study or exploration, especially of Jaffna, that region in the northern apex of that triangular land just 22 miles from the southern tip of India, and is well supported by meticulous and accurate footnoting and quotations from the people who have shaped the country.
—Charles Muller, Diadem Books
