THE AWAKENING

"Bid me farewell my island paradise." says Marian as she is forced to leave her beloved country to settle in the UK. 'The Awakening' is a tale of tragedy, love, adventure and destiny. It commences in 1953 and is based around Marian; a Sri Lankan girl aged 13 years, her trials and tribulations interwoven into the history of the country, its independence struggles and internal turmoil leading to the 2008 Sinhalese/Tamil war. Her education is in a doctrinaire convent environment where she displays contempt of penal injustice at the hands of her religious superiors. Marian raped as a minor, explains through sexual awakenings how Eastern society deals with the victim and the perpetrator. Despite all odds she finds true love which is prematurely snatched from her grasp. At the age of 16 years accompanied by her mother, broken hearted, grieving, deeply depressed and suicidal; she arrives in England to settle in the London suburbs to advance her education. The novel then describes the grim experiences of arriving in post war Britain. This moving novel reflects and interprets the drama of her existence. "This moving, and I am assuming fact based novel, is an ambitious encompassing sweep of the creative imagination. It is also a fine and sensitive examination of the ethnic and other conflicts that has riven that lovely island for so long. The whole book is in its way, a metaphor for the human condition and for the relation of the nations and the creativity of the subcontinent with persons and ideas from other cultures. It uses many different strands of reality to weave its texture, adventure, pathos, humour and philosophy. It is written with a hand that is both sure and light. I particularly liked the writing style; right from the outset, the reader is immediately engaged, and made a part of the world of the writer. Dialogue, character and situation are all well and realistically handled."