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Book tips while reading and travelling in Sri Lanka

Books set in Sri Lanka or about the island of Ceylon

· Sri Lanka

The Teaplanter’s Wife by Dinah Jefferies
A bestselling novel set in Ceylon in the 1920 when a young woman from England marries and wonder of a tea plantation in Sri Lanka.

Reef by Romesh Gunesekara
A Contemporary fiction book, shortlisted for the 1994 Booker Prize. The plot is set in the 1960’s, based on the life of a lone servant of a marine biologist.

The Chef by Martin Suter
The story of a young Tamil, who flew the country during the civil war in Sri Lanka and came to Switzerland and started a business by selling aphrodisiacal menus. The plot is surrounded by business, crime, money and politics.

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida 
Winner of the 2022 Booker Prize, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida is a searing satire set amid the mayhem of the Sri Lankan civil war. Not a very easy read.

The Scorpion-Fish by Nicolas Bouvier
You can still find the house in the Galle Fort, where Nicolas Bouvier gets stuck in. In this house he totally loses his mind while watching the island’s bugs invade his room.