First published 2018
Dinesh has lost everything in Sri Lanka's civil war. His family is dead, his village destroyed, and he owns only the clothes on his back. In a refugee camp on the northeastern coast, an older man approaches him with an unusual request. The man's daughter Ganga is dying from shrapnel wounds and needs a husband before death takes her. Dinesh accepts the proposal and marries this woman he has never met. Their wedding ceremony takes only minutes. Now Dinesh sits in the darkness beside his new bride, listening to her struggle for breath. She might not live through the night. He cannot decide whether he wants Ganga to survive or slip away. Around them, the war rages on. Distant shells explode while refugees search for safety that may not exist. In this moment between life and death, Dinesh faces an impossible question about the meaning of their hasty union and whether genuine connection can bloom in a world where violence strikes without warning.
Genres: fiction, drama, literary-fiction, historical-fiction, contemporary, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, forced-proximity
Setting: Northeastern Coast, Sri Lanka
Period: 21st Century
208 pages · Paperback · FOURTH ESTATE
Content warnings: death, war