Island of a Thousand Mirrors (26 page)
VONA (most especially the VONA Lucky 13).
The Squaw Valley Community of Writers.
Janet Fitch, for inspiration and hospitality.
Cathy Winkler, whose courage in writing
One Night: Realities of Rape
helped me in my attempts to understand the unspeakable.
The Tuesday St. Martin’s de Porres soup-kitchen lunch crew and especially Mitchell
Gilman, Julie Dyett, Naji Ali, Ben Terrall, Walter Parenteau, Merrill, Betsy, and
Ellen.
Raj Ponniah and the Ponniah family. Being a part of your family is a blessing.
Family: Deva and Shiromi Aturaliye, Upali and Saras Aturaliya, Suja and Shelly Rajapakse,
Doreen Sonnadara, and Sunila and Senarath Rajawasan.
The friends who are family: Candida Martinez and Cecil Carthen, Melissa McPeters and
Gustavo El Diablo Sandi, Yael Martinez and Carlos Pena Garrido and Alexsie, Nathanael
F. Trimboli, Susan Ruth, Emily Guzzardi, Serena Wong and Nick Van Eyck, Melinda Weaver,
Alina Moloney, Dima Dashevsky, JenKat Kwong, Jolan Bogdan and Scott Martinez and Benni,
Stephen Boatright and Rebecca Lowery, Francis Vieras Blanc, and Dr. Stefanie Dunning.
Keenan Norris and Laleh Khadivi, to lifelong literary friendships indeed.
The Missildine family, great readers, writers, and editors, all!
The cousins who cheered me on: Dhumal Aturaliye and Bishan and Yosanta Rajapakse.
Dinesh Rajawasan, you’re the best, even when you try to sign books in my name.
Kavya and Saakya Rajawasan and Valeena Sontidoro. Big hugs and I can’t wait to see
what adventures life holds for you.
The worldwide Vipassana Meditation sangha and Kaushik Ranchod, who led me to it.
Adam Griffiths, you were reading this book on the morning that the waves took you.
Your spirit and your joy stay with us.
Maggie Leung and Moher Downing, loved and remembered.
The Tantulas: Namal, Shehan, and Baby Tantula—even now on her way.
Dr. Whitney Missildine, if a life is measured in love, I am blessed beyond measure.
About The Author
Nayomi Munaweera was born in Sri Lanka and grew up in Nigeria. She immigrated to the
United States in her early teens and now lives in Oakland, California.
Island of a Thousand Mirrors
won the 2013 Commonwealth Book Prize for the Asian Region, was long-listed for the
2012 Man Asian Literary Prize, and was short-listed for the 2013 DSC Prize for South
Asian Literature. It is her first novel.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed
in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
ISLAND OF A THOUSAND MIRRORS.
Copyright © 2012 by Nayomi Munaweera. All rights reserved. For information, address
St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
Cover design by Olga Grlic
Map and family trees by Rhys Davies
eBooks may be purchased for business or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases,
please contact Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department by writing to [email protected].
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Munaweera, Nayomi.
Island of a thousand mirrors / Nayomi Munaweera.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-250-04393-1 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4668-4227-4 (e-book)
1. Female friendship—Fiction. 2. Family life—Sri Lanka—Fiction. 3. Tamil
(Indic people)—Sri Lanka. 4. Sinhalese (Sri Lankan people)—Fiction. 5. Ethnic
conflict—Sri Lanka—Fiction. I. Title.
PR9440.9.M865I75 2014
823'.92—dc23
2014016826
e-ISBN 9781466842274
First published in Sri Lanka in 2012 by Perera Hussein Publishing House
First U.S. Edition: September 2014