Books

These titles help a traveller understand Kandy and the hill country before or during a visit.

Guide

Books

01

Chinaman

Shehan Karunatilaka's novel about a dying journalist searching for a legendary Sri Lankan spin bowler who disappeared in 1989. The book is ostensibly about …
02

Running in the Family

Michael Ondaatje's memoir of returning to Sri Lanka to recover his family's history — Dutch, Tamil, Sinhalese, and British all tangled together across two …
03

Anil's Ghost

Ondaatje's novel set during Sri Lanka's civil war, following a forensic anthropologist sent by an international human rights group to investigate war crimes. The …
04

The English Patient

Though set primarily in Italy, Ondaatje's Booker Prize-winning novel draws on his Sri Lankan background — the character of Kip, the Sikh sapper, was …