The Good Little Ceylonese Girl

Our Sri Lankan narrator visits his friend Joe in Italy, where Joe attends a special course—in higher (or, shall we say, lower) studies in women. Italians—much like Sri Lankans—live at home through marriage, death, and sometimes even beyond the pale. An accompanying string of fake fiancés and phoney engagements are the backdrop to this delightful collection of darkly humorous tales about Sri Lankans at home and abroad. Long years and many miles away, Colombo’s Father Cruz attempts to rescue a church from parishioners who like to put their donations where others can see them—on large plaques; on the coast, a retired Admiral escapes the tsunami on an antique Dutch cabinet; two childhood sweethearts, in time-honoured Sri Lankan tradition, are married off to strangers. Ashok Ferrey writes about Sri Lanka and its people, wherever they roam, with remarkable acuity. He writes of the West’s effect on Sri Lankans, of its ‘turning them into caricatures, unmistakably genuine but not at all the real thing’. In The Good Little Ceylonese Girl, his second collection of stories, he shows us the reality beyond those feeble sketches, in its full glory.

This Sri Lanka guidebook is perfect for independent travellers planning a longer trip. It features all of the must-see sights and a wide range of off-the-beaten-track places. It also provides detailed practical information on preparing for a trip and what to do on the ground. And this Sri Lanka travel guidebook is printed on paper from responsible sources, and verified to meet the FSC’s strict environmental and social standards. This Sri Lanka guidebook covers: Colombo and the west coast, the south, Kandy and the hill country, the Cultural Triangle, the east, Jaffna and the north. Inside this Sri Lanka travel book, you’ll find: A wide range of sights – Rough Guides experts have hand-picked places for travellers with different needs and desires: off-the-beaten-track adventures, family activities or chilled-out breaks Itinerary examples – created for different time frames or types of trip Practical information – how to get to Sri Lanka, all about public transport, food and drink, shopping, travelling with children, sports and outdoor activities, tips for travellers with disabilities and more Author picks and things not to miss in - Sri Lanka– Cricket, Adam's Peak, Big Buddhas, Galle, Yala National Park, World's End, rice & curry, birds, Kataragama, Anuradhapura, Bawa hotels, Sigiriya, Ella, The Pettah, whale and dolphin-watching, Polonnaruwa, Bentota, Kandy Esala Perahera, Sinharaja, Ayurveda, Arugam Bay, Kandyan dancing and drumming, Dambulla, Mirissa, Kandy Insider recommendations – tips on how to beat the crowds, save time and money, and find the best local spots When to go to Sri Lanka – high season, low season, climate information and festivals Where to go – a clear introduction to Sri Lanka with key places and a handy overview Extensive coverage of regions, places and experiences – regional highlights, sights and places for different types of travellers, with experiences matching different needs Places to eat, drink and stay – hand-picked restaurants, cafes, bars and hotels Practical info at each site – hours of operation, websites, transit tips, charges Colour-coded mapping – with keys and legends listing sites categorised as highlights, eating, accommodation, shopping, drinking and nightlife Background information for connoisseurs – history, culture, art, architecture, film, books, religion, diversity Essential Sinhala and Tamil dictionary and glossary of local terms Fully updated post-COVID-19 The guide provides a comprehensive and rich selection of places to see and things to do in Sri Lanka, as well as great planning tools. It’s the perfect companion, both ahead of your trip and on the ground.

A gripping account of an under-reported island' Spectator, Book of the Year '[A] brilliant new book about an island that has a geography from heaven and a history from hell' Daily Telegraph 'A brilliant work of travel, history and psychological insight . . . astute and sympathetic . . . very funny' Wall Street Journal Everyone has wanted a piece of paradise John Gimlette - winner of the Dolman Prize and the Shiva Naipaul Prize for Travel Writing - is the kind of traveller you'd want by your side. Whether hacking a centuries-old path through the jungle, interrogating the surviving members of the Tamil Tigers or observing the stranger social mores of Colombo's city life, he brings his own unique insight to the page: a treasure-chest of research and a gift for wry amusement. Through him, Sri Lanka - all at once dazzling, strange, conflicted and beautiful - comes to life as never before.

In this extraordinary debut, Ashok Ferry chronicles, in a gently probing voice, the journeys of characters seeking something beyond the barriers of nations and generations. His tales of social-climbing Sri Lankans, of the pathos of immigration, of rich people with poor taste, of ice-cream karma, of innocent love, eternity, and more take us to Colombo’s nouveau riche, hoity-toity returnees, ladies with buttery skin and square fingernails, old-fashioned aristocrats, and the poor mortals trapped between them. Ferry’s stories comprise characters that are ‘serious and fine and upstanding, and infinitely dull’, but also others like young John-John, who loses his childhood somewhere ‘high up in the air between Asmara and Rome’; the maid, Agnes of God, whose mango-sucking teeth ‘fly out at you like bats out of the mouth of a cave’; Ashoka, the immigrant who embodies his Sri Lankan identity only on the bus ride between home and work; and Professor Jayaweera who finds sterile freedoms caged in the ‘unbending, straight lines of Western Justice’. Absurd, sad, scathing and generous, but mostly wickedly funny, Colpetty People presents modern Sri Lankans as they navigate worlds between Ceylon and the West.

Piyumi Segarajasingham is a young barrister in eighties London, half Tamil and half Sinhalese, and newly responsible for her family’s share of an inheritance in Sri Lanka. The servants’ quarters of a house called Serendipity in Colombo’s colonial quarter, Cinnamon Gardens, is now her charge—she wants to keep it, her relatives are keen to sell. So begins Piyumi’s journey home, full of a host of memorable characters and the hilarious happenstance of daily life in Colombo, haunted by the memory of a stranger she met back in London—will they ever get together? Set in a more innocent time— Sri Lanka’s civil war had only just begun—Serendipity is satire, thriller and comedy of manners all in one, told with Ferrey’s trademark wit.

How can the diffusion and development of women's cricket as a global sport be explained? Women 's Cricket and Global Processes considers the emergence and growth of women's cricket around the world and seeks to provide a sociological explanation for how and why the women's game has developed the way it has.