Reading recommendations for curious travellers
The ETG Book Club: Sri Lanka
Seven Moons of Maali Almeida
Sri Lankan author Shehan Karunatilaka’s The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida won the 2022 Man Booker Prize. Top of our reading list and if it’s anything like his first book, one of Sam’s favourites, Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew (cricket as a device for telling the story of Sri Lankan society – of course!), it’ll be a great read.
The Guardian gave it an excellent review saying: “A photographer in the afterlife sets out to expose the carnage of Sri Lanka’s civil wars in a Booker-nominated (winning) novel filled with humour and pathos”.
Upon a Sleepless Isle
Andrew Fidel Fernando
A light and fun travel piece, which doesn’t shy away from the less easy aspects of Sri Lanka, alongside the tourist cliches.
Laugh out loud funny at times, this is a very enjoyable poolside read whilst travelling in Sri Lanka!
Brotherless Night
Highly recommened by ETG co-founders.
Tragic, moving, informative, compelling, this is fiction, but fiction which is tightly based on events and people that existed and it brings alive both the terror of war and the way it works to compromise and break down everyone involved.
It’s a coming-of-age story that follows 16-year-old Sashi, who dreams of becoming a doctor while her brothers and first love join the Tamil Tigers.
An Island’s Eleven: The Story of Sri Lankan Cricket
“I just turned up in Sri Lanka to write a book about cricket,” Nicholas Brookes told us. And what a book he wrote! Packed with cricketing legends and the good, the bad and downright ugly of Sri Lankan cricket.
Full of cricket lore to satisfy fans, Nicholas’ fresh, lively writing brings the sport – and the country – to life. Part travelogue, part sporting saga, we’d recommend it heartily, even to those with zero interest in cricket.
Won the Wisden Cricket Book of the Year 2023
Sri Lanka: The Cookbook
Feather-light hoppers, fiery sambols, subtly spiced curries and unique ‘vada’ (fried snacks) come together in this definitive collection of Sri Lanka’s most vibrant recipes.
While it’s a much-loved travel destination, the country’s varied cuisine still flies relatively under the radar. Absorbing influences from India, the Middle East, Far East Asia and European invaders, the island also has strong Sinhalese and Tamil cooking traditions. Includes 100 recipes and original travel photography of Sri Lanka, its kitchens and its people.
Elephant Complex
Winner of the Dolman Prize and the Shiva Naipaul Prize for Travel Writing (and ETG traveller, we’re proud to say), John Gimlette is the kind of companion you’d want by your side.
Whether tracing jungle paths, quizzing former Tamil Tigers or navigating Colombo’s social quirks, he brings sharp insight, deep research and dry wit. Through him, Sri Lanka – dazzling, strange, conflicted and beautiful – springs to life on the page like never before.
So Much Life Left Over
Louis de Bernières
The sequel to The Dust That Falls From Dreams (though it stands alone too), this sweeping, heartbreaking novel follows Rosie and Daniel as they attempt a fresh start in 1920s Ceylon. But even in the plantation hills, post-war trauma and longing threaten their fragile marriage.
By turns funny and tragic, it follows a cast of compelling characters through the interwar years in Britain and abroad.
Also, see if you can spot the cameo from Captain Corelli’s Mandonlin!
Reef
An elegant and moving story that was shortlisted for the 1994 Booker Prize. Reef explores the entwined lives of Mr Salgado, an aristocratic marine biologist, and his houseboy, Triton, who learns to polish silver until it shines like a molten sun; to mix a love cake with ten eggs, creamed butter, and fresh cadju nuts; to marinade tiger prawns and to steam parrot fish.
Through these characters and the 40 years of political disintegration their country endures, Gunesekera tells the tragic, sometimes comic, story of a lost paradise and a young man coming to terms with his destiny.
The Tea Planter’s Wife
An international bestselling novel set in 1920s Ceylon, about a young Englishwoman who marries a charming tea plantation owner and widower, only to discover he’s keeping terrible secrets about his past, including what happened to his first wife, that lead to devastating consequences.
We are delighted to have arranged several research trips for Dinah over the years. You might also like The Sapphire Trader’s Secret, set in 1930s Ceylon, and her novels set in Myanmar and India!
The Village in the Jungle
A classic novel of colonial Ceylon, first published in 1913 and written by Virginia Woolf’s husband.
It reads as if Thomas Hardy had been born amongst the heat, scent, sensuality and mystery of the tropics. This book brims with first-hand knowledge of the colonial experience, and of its profound, malign disregard for the psychology and culture of its subject peoples.
High Street / Low Street: Colombo
There are plenty of books, blogs, and guides out there that provide details on what a visitor “should” see when they arrive in Colombo. This book does not include those places. Instead, this book explores the small streets and neighbourhoods, including a few that have since been “redeveloped”, and provides the viewer with images of what Colombo is like for the average resident.
This Divided Island: Stories from the Sri Lankan War
An engrossing and dramatic family saga set against the backdrop of Ceylon’s turbulent evolution into Sri Lanka.
Running In The Family
In the late 1970s Ondaatje returned to his native island of Sri Lanka. As he records his journey through the drug-like heat and intoxicating fragrances of that “pendant off the ear of India,” Ondaatje simultaneously retraces the baroque mythology of his Dutch-Ceylonese family.
An inspired travel narrative and family memoir by an exceptional writer.
The Teardrop Island
The Teardrop Island follows in the footsteps of the eccentric Victorian James Emerson Tennent, sent to Ceylon in 1845 by Her Majesty’s Government, along a route which takes Cherry to pilgrimage trails into tea estates and rural regions inhabited by indigenous tribes, as well as through restricted areas of the former warzone, delving under the surface of the contemporary culture via cricket matches and fortune tellers.
Thank you to ETG client, Caroline Jenkins for this recommendation.
The Sweet And Simple Kind
“Loyalty (and the damnable lack of it in his wife) was the thought uppermost in the mind of Sir Andrew Millbanke as he looked down at Lady Alexandra’s dead body, spread-eagled on the paved pathway of the Residency.”
And so begins an engrossing and dramatic family drama, set against the backdrop of Ceylon’s bumpy evolution into Sri Lanka, as the Wijesinha clan struggle to balance their staunch political ambition against the ignominy of an embarrassing family scandal. And when two young family members, cousins Tsunami and Latha, meet and become firm friends no one can guess that their triumphant friendship will be played out over the passing years against both the best and the worst the newly independent Sri Lanka can offer as these two smart and Westernised young women pursue their own personal freedoms.
Chinaman
An unusual tale of the game of cricket and intrigue. Won Sri Lanka’s Gratiaen Award 2008 for the best creative work in English.
“I love this book – it’s a fantastic novel and written from a Sri Lankan perspective. You probably do need to know something about cricket to fully understand it and ideally a smattering of ‘Singhish’ too – but all of this is a device to write about Sri Lankan society, life, thwarted ambition and death.” Sam, ETG co-founder
Sri Lanka – Culture Smart!
Sri Lanka – Culture Smart! outlines this fascinating island-nation’s rich and complex history and reveals the forces that have shaped its sensibility and development over the years. An essential guide to customs and culture offering insights into Sri Lankan daily life, at home and in the workplace, and describing what Sri Lankans enjoy and how they interact socially, you’ll be guided through the beliefs, attitudes, and customs of the people you will meet, and find practical advice on how best to proceed in unfamiliar situations.
Look out for the newest edition of this guide, published in June 2019.
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Featured, Reviewed & Recommended
Don’t just take our word for it, Experience Travel Group have been featured and recognised by the industry’s top travel and news publications for close to two decades.
The Curious Traveller’s Guide to Sri Lanka
Wondering when to visit Sri Lanka? Our guide will give you a more detailed breakdown of the best time of year to book a holiday, as well as tips on the best beaches, unmissable sites, and much more.
