True Paradise

Childhood in Ceylon is vividly portrayed in a sequence of stories and vignettes which evoke the exotic beauty of the author’s birthplace, the secretive pleasures of his boyhood there, and the poignance of a Buddhism riveted on ephemerality. The lyricism of the writing and a large cast of characters make this book a delight. It portrays an exceptional individual, a gifted imagination growing up in one culture and gradually being possessed by another.