The story is set-in war-torn Sri Lanka of the eighties. The story is about a girl Sashi who wants to become a doctor. How her ambitions turn off course as her beloved brothers and friend K are sucked into the war as violence mounts in the country, is what the book is about.
While Sashi wants to help the movement, she keeps questioning her own moral stand in this situation. She accepts her friend K’s invitation to work as a medic in a field hospital. Soon the tigers murder her favourite teacher, then the Indian peace keeping force arrives not to help but commit more atrocities on people and women. She begins questioning her own path in this.
Soon her Tamil feminist professor invites her to join her project, to document human rights violations in the country. She thus embarks on this dangerous assignment that will change her life forever.
This book is a very compelling read. It is a passionate account by the author narrated in the first person by the protagonist Sashi. Though certain parts were difficult to read, imagining the trauma of the people, it was unputdownable.
This book triggered a lot of memories as I lived in Sri Lanka towards the end of the war. I had the chance to tour all the cities except Jaffna which was still reeling under the aftermath of war.
