SHYAM SELVADURAI

Construido sobre una antigua plantación de canelos, Jardines de Canela es un barrio residencial de Colombo, capital de Sri Lanka, rebautizado como Ceilán por sus amos coloniales. Corre el año 1927 cuando la independencia y el sufragio universal remueven las apacibles aguas del milenario pais, donde las mujeres se limitan al silencioso cumplimiento de los deberes en el hogar, sin eclipsar jamas al hombre. Este turbulento periodo de cambios le ha tocado vivir a Annalukshmi, una joven cuyos estudios se consideran casi un crimen y un obstaculo para encontrar marido. Tras escandalizar al barrio entero yendo en bicicleta a su trabajo, su madre decide buscarle el hombre adecuado para que siente cabeza. Al mismo tiempo, conocemos la historia de Balendran, un cabeza de familia ejemplar e hijo del mudaliyar, el encargado de poner en practica la politica colonial. La inesperada visita de un antiguo compañero de los tiempos de universidad en Inglaterra tiene un efecto perturbador cuyo alcance ni siquiera el protagonista es capaz de vislumbrar. Con una gran sensualidad y una prosa rica en imagenes, Jardines de Canela es un retrato teñido de nostalgia sobre la placidez de la vida colonial subitamente sacudida por la convulsion de los acontecimientos politicos. Los protagonistas, estimulados por el aire fresco de la libertad, ya no soportan vivir bajo el yugo de las convenciones sociales y no tienen mas salida que despojarse de sus complejos y expresar libremente sus deseos mas intimos.

Construido sobre una antigua plantación de canelos, Jardines de Canela es un barrio residencial de Colombo, capital de Sri Lanka, rebautizado como Ceilán porf sus amos coloniales. Corre el año 1927 cuando la independencia y el sufragio universal remueven las apacibles aguas del milenario pais, donde las mujeres se limitan al silencioso cumplimiento de los deberes en el hogar sin eclipsar jamas al hombre.

A Globe and Mail Best Book A Guardian Summer Book Pick A CBC Best Canadian Fiction Book of the Year From the bestselling, award-winning author of Funny Boy and The Hungry Ghosts comes a breathtaking reimagining of ancient India through the extraordinary life of Yasodhara, the woman who married the Buddha.In this sweeping tale, at once epic and intimate, Shyam Selvadurai introduces us to Siddhartha Gautamawho will later become the enlightened one, or the Buddhaan unusually bright and politically astute young man settling into his upper-caste life as a newlywed to Yasodhara, a woman of great intelligence and spirit. Mansions of the Moon traces the couples early love and life together, and then the anguished turmoil that descends upon them both as Siddharthas spiritual calling takes over and the marriage partnership slowly, inexorably crumbles. Eventually, Yasodhara is forced to ask what kind of life a woman can lead in ancient India if her husband abandons hereven a well-born woman such as herself. And is there a path she, too, might take towards enlightenment?Award-winning writer Shyam Selvadurai examines these questions with empathy and insight, creating a vivid portrait of a fascinating time and place, the intricate web of power, family and relationships that surround a singular marriage, and the remarkable woman who until now has remained a little-understood shadow in the historical record. Mansions of the Moon is an immersive, lively and thrilling feat of literary imagination.

Amrith comes to terms with his sexuality in this sweeping coming-of-age story set against the stormy backdrop of monsoon season in 1980s Sri Lanka. For fans of Call Me By Your Name.Shyam Selvadurais brilliant novels, Funny Boy and Cinnamon Gardens, have garnered him international acclaim. In his first young adult novel, he explores first love with clarity, humor and compassion. The setting is Sri Lanka, 1980, and it is the season of monsoons. Fourteen-year-old Amrith is caught up in the life of the cheerful, well-to-do household in which he is being raised by his vibrant Auntie Bundle and kindly Uncle Lucky. He tries not to think of his life before, when his doting mother was still alive. Amriths holiday plans seem unpromising: he wants to appear in his schools production of Othello and he is learning to type at Uncle Luckys tropical fish business. Then, like an unexpected monsoon, his cousin arrives from Canada and Amriths ordered life is storm-tossed. He finds himself falling in love with the Canadian boy. Othello, with its powerful theme of disastrous jealousy, is the backdrop to the drama in which Amrith finds himself immersed.

"A novel of raw human longing. . . . His stripped-down prose focuses on the deeply personal with precision and insight. . . . Selvadurais work reminds me that the contemporary novel doesnt necessarily have to resort to thrills or high jinks in order to find its usefulness. Here, it unforgettably explores the interplay between individual intention and the tragedy of a nations history." The Globe and MailIn Sri Lankan myth, a person who dies may be reborn a "hungry ghost"a ghost with a large stomach that can never be filled through its tiny mouthif he has desired too much during his life. It is the duty of the living to free the dead who are doomed to this fate by transferring karma from their own good deeds. In Shyam Selvadurais masterful new novel, Shivan, a troubled young man of mixed Tamil and Sinhalese ancestry, is preparing to travel from Toronto, Canada, to the land of his childhood, Sri Lanka, to rescue his ailing grandmother and bring her back to die. But on the eve of his departureas Shivan meditates on his turbulent past, recalls his gradual discovery of his homosexuality, and wrestles with his complicated relationship with the wily old womanhe discovers just how much his own hearts desires are entwined with the volatile political, racial, and sexual mix of Sri Lankas past and present. In the end, Shivan must decide: will he rescue his grandmother, or join her?The Hungry Ghosts is an unconventional exploration of the immigrant experience; a tale of family ties and the long reach of the past; and a heartwrenching look at how racial, political, and sexual differences can tear apart a country, a family, and a human being.

Selvadurai has captured horrifyingly well the airlessness of a society in which only a few are truly able to breathe, and deeply Mary Loudon, The TimesIn Shyam Selvadurais masterful second novel, set in repressive and complex 1920s Ceylon, the Cinnamon Gardens is a residential enclave of wealthy Ceylonese. Among them is Annalukshmi, an independent and high-spirited young teacher intent on thwarting her parents plans to arrange her marriage. In a parallel narrative, her uncle, Balendran Navaratnam, respectably married but secretly homosexual, has his life disrupted by the arrival in Ceylon of Richard, a lover from long ago. Richly rewarding . . . this is, in many ways, an old-fashioned novel, brimming with old-fashioned virtues. The characters and setting are established in a measured, finely judged manner, allowing us to feel at home with them. Annalukshmis Jane Austen-ish domestic life -- anxious mother, bossy aunt, catty sisters, endless talk of prospective husbands -- is brought to life with glancing humour. Not least of the novels virtues is the way he seems to conjure up a whole social panorama. With its vivid evocation of time and place, its wise characterisation, its involving emotional dramas, this is a novel that deserves, and will surely gain, a wide readership Adam Lively, Sunday Times Subtle and deeply humane . . . a fine novel that is both delicately written and very, very wise . . . Selvadurai has established himself firmly as an important chronicler of the complexities of social and cultural difference Books in CanadaThis is a distinctive voice and the author is a talent to be reckoned with Telegraph, India

An extraordinarily powerful, deeply moving novel Amitav GhoshNOW A MAJOR FILM ON NETFLIX In the world of his large family - affluent Tamils living in Colombo - Arjie is an oddity, a funny boy who prefers dressing as a girl to playing cricket with his brother.But as Arjie comes to terms with his own homo-sexuality and with the racism of the society in which he lives, Sri Lanka is plunged into civil war as fighting between the army and the Tamil Tigers gradually begins to encroach on the familys comfortable life. Sporadic acts of violence flare into full scale riots and lead, ultimately, to tragedy. Written in clear, simple prose, Shyam Selvadurais first novel is masterly in its mingling of the personal and political.WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY NEEL MUKHERJEE

Sri Lanka, 1976 a 1983.Arjie es un niño que crece en el seno de una familia privilegiada y numerosa de la minoría tamil en Colombo y que prefiere participar en bodas ficticias con sus primas a jugar a con los demas chicos. Cuando sus padres descubren su inocente pasatiempo, Arjie se ve obligado a abandonar sus idilicos juegos infantiles y adoptar las rigidas normas de un mundo de adultos: los resultados, como era de esperar, son a veces divertidos, a veces tristes y siempre inutiles.A traves de seis relatos en diferentes momentos de su paso de la infancia a la adolescencia, descubre su propia identidad y sexualidad en una sociedad marcada por tradiciones y prejuicios muy arraigados. Su transicion personal transita en paralelo con la escalada de tensiones sociales y violencia entre la minoria tamil y los cingaleses, en un pais que avanza inexorable hacia una cruenta guerra civil que durara veinticinco años.La novela explora temas como la diversidad cultural, el despertar sexual y la lucha por la autoaceptacion frente a las expectativas de una sociedad en cambio constante.

Sri Lanka, 1976 a 1983.Arjie es un niño que crece en el seno de una familia privilegiada y numerosa de la minoría tamil en Colombo y que prefiere participar en bodas ficticias con sus primas a jugar a con los demas chicos. Cuando sus padres descubren su inocente pasatiempo, Arjie se ve obligado a abandonar sus idilicos juegos infantiles y adoptar las rigidas normas de un mundo de adultos: los resultados, como era de esperar, son a veces divertidos, a veces tristes y siempre inutiles.A traves de seis relatos en diferentes momentos de su paso de la infancia a la adolescencia, Arjie descubre su propia identidad y sexualidad en una sociedad marcada por tradiciones y prejuicios muy arraigados. Su transicion personal transita en paralelo con la escalada de tensiones sociales y violencia entre la minoria tamil y los cingaleses, en un pais que avanza inexorable hacia una cruenta guerra civil que durara veinticinco años.La novela explora temas como la diversidad cultural, el despertar sexual y la lucha por la autoaceptacion frente a las expectativas de una sociedad en cambio constante.