by Michellede Kretser (Author)
The place is Ceylon, the time the 1930s. Set amid tea plantations, corruption and the backwash of empire, this is a world teetering on the edge of chaos. Sam Obeysekere is a Ceylonese lawyer, a perfect product of empire. His family, which once had wealth and influence, starts to crack open as political change comes to the island, and Sam's glamorous father dies leaving gambling debts. At the heart of the novel is the Hamilton case, a murder scandal that shakes the upper echelons of island society; Sam's involvement in it makes his name but sets his life on course of disappointment.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 304
Edition: New e.
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 02 Sep 2004
ISBN 10: 0099453797
ISBN 13: 9780099453796
Book Overview: 'A mesmeric study of a family, a scandal and a murder, set in Ceylon in the 1930s. (Booker judges, where were you?)' Hilary Mantel, Daily Telegraph