Abstract

This is a novel written in two parts, one by the daughter of an interracial marriage , and one by a Sinhala man, in which they ponder the reason as to why they didn’t get together as lovers. The overall theme is of the man looking for a statue of Goddess Tara, a search for history and origins , and the excerpt here is taken from the woman’s story, which she had written down for him to read. It deals with the 1983 riots , and how her Tamil father allowed himself to be taken away by heartache and sickness when he saw what happened because of the people whose literature he loved and taught. He could not survive the breaking of the trust he had placed in this community.