In Captives by Romesh Gunesekera a couple arrive at a hotel near the ancient fortress of Sigiriya Rock in Sri Lanka and are closely observed by the manager. This is a story of misreadings and the divide between tourists and locals; the tensions between old colonial power and the once colonised.

First published in Monkfish Moon, Granta, 1992

‘Ranvali’ by Romesh Gunesekera is a story that captures, in lush detailed prose the romance of the rural landscape and old dilapidated country houses in Sri Lanka. A daughter is driving down to her late-father’s beach bungalow and reflects on his misplaced idealism and efforts to create a more unified country, giving away his valuable land for strangers to gather in, a project doomed to fail.

“For father the gama was his precious link to the peasants, his masses, even though they treated him like a lord. They brought him pineapple and jak fruit, plantains, jaggery and curd while he sat on the veranda… looking more like Tolstoy than his Lenin.”

First published in Monkfish Moon, Granta, 1992