The uneasy relationship between 'liberation movements' and those they seek to liberate is convincingly captured, as are the constant negotiations civilians have to make to survive in a war zone…. Underneath, however, she struggles to reconcile her life in the U.S. What Lies Between Us is the story of a young Sri Lankan teenager who outwardly has taken up the mantel of American adolescence. The war officially began in 1983 and continued until 2009. It tells the story of the conflict between two main ethnic groups in Sri Lanka from the perspective of two girls who witness the horror of the civil war. Island of a Thousand Mirrors, Munaweera's debut novel, was published in South Asia in 2012 and in the U.S.

She holds Bachelor's degree in Literature from the University of California, Irvine, and a Master's degree in South Asian Literature from the University of California, Riverside. They went first to Nigeria then eventually settled in Los Angeles, California, where Munaweera spent her teenage years. Nayomi Munaweera was born in Sri Lanka, but her family left to escape the ravages of the civil war. In 2016 she released her second novel What Lies Between Us. Her 2012 debut Island of a Thousand Mirrors won Commonwealth Book Prize for the Asian Region in 2013 and was shortlisted for a number of other awards. Nayomi Munaweera is a Sri Lankan American writer and author of two novels. Currently-lives in the San Francisco Bay area.Awards-Commonwealth Book Prize (Asian Region).Education-B.A., University of California (UCAL), Irving M.A., UCAL, Riverside.It offers an unparalleled portrait of a beautiful land during its most difficult moments. In the end, love and longing promise only an uneasy peace.Ī sweeping saga with the intimacy of a memoir that brings to mind epic fiction like The Kite Runner and The God of Small Things, Nayomi Munaweera's Island of a Thousand Mirrors strikes mercilessly at the heart of war. One tragic moment that defines the fate of these women and their families will haunt their choices for decades to come. A family epic set against the backdrop of the Sri Lankan civil war comes to poignant and powerful life in this lyrical and riveting debut novel by Nayomi Munaweera.īefore violence tore apart the tapestry of Sri Lanka and turned its pristine beaches red, there were two families two young women, ripe for love with hopes for the future and a chance encounter that leads to the terrible heritage they must reckon with for years to come.

Nayomi munaweera novels