Beneath a Robarosiya Tree

By Sarath Munasinghe Arachchi

Narration is woven around a village in upcountry Sri Lanka during the height of the ethnic war in North and East Provinces of the country. The particular village enjoys normalcy but it is an uneasy normalcy. Lower middle class parents with Alexander, a tough trishaw driving son, a transgender son and a differently abled daughter live in peace without a sense of prevailing conditions of the war. When Alexander gets married the story flows into the troubled waters of ethnic conflict. At the wedding few minor incidents like an encounter between Tamil friend of the groom's father and a rural civil defence man and the cowardly way of behaviour of other guests put a light into what is to expect.Interestingly, whole plot revs around the incidents involved by newly wedded bride, a Midwife. She encounters Military officers and Tamil Detainees of a rehabilitation camp in the village, poverty stricken plantation Tamils and curfew, a murderous husband and his father trying to shamelessly whitewash him of his crimes etc. The massacre at the detention camp and preparations for it, are vividly described in such a way to expose rural hypocrisy and murderous intentions. What is her future with a new born baby? Will she continue live with her husband who is a criminal? How her attitudes about her in laws are changed? The novella explains with an emotion filled narration.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1520872119
• ISBN13: 9781520872117
• Release Date: March 2017
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 99 Pages
• Weight: 0.33 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.3" x 6.0"