First published 2016
On December 26, 2004, Sonali Deraniyagala watches tsunami waves crash into Sri Lanka's southern coast. In those first terrible minutes, she loses her parents, her husband, and her two sons. She alone survives. The months that follow become a battle against an unbearable reality she cannot accept or face. Deraniyagala struggles through the initial shock, then the passing years filled with longing for her previous life of joy and completeness. She remembers her London home, the births of her children, meeting her husband at university, her childhood, and the family that no longer exists. The memories of those she lost continue living inside her, even as remembering them feels impossible to bear. She must find a way to carry both the weight of loss and the persistence of love.
Genres: biography, grief, memoir, non-fiction
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: grief, trauma
Setting: Sri Lanka
Period: 2004
221 pages · Paperback · Epsilon Yayinevi
Content warnings: death