A new book titled, ‘A Tale from a Promised Land’ has been released by Austin Macauley publishers in London.
The author of this novel is Dr Palitha Ganewatta, resident in Sydney, Australia.
This novel tells the story of three generations of an Australian-Sri Lankan migrant family. After a bomb explodes near two leading schools in the city of Colombo, he persuades his wife that for the sake of their children they must leave and start a new life in Australia. After her mother passes away, her father — a retired school principal — agrees to join them in Australia.
The novel identifies the travails that beset new migrants from traditional conservative Asian backgrounds to a western oriented materialistic culture, which now accepts migrants from multi-cultural and multi-lingual backgrounds but expects the new arrivals to assimilate and integrate with the society of which they now form a part.
This novel provides deep insights into socio-cultural and psychological barriers encountered by a first generation of Sri Lankan migrants after their arrival in a new country. Through the combined interactions of a few protagonists, the novel depicts the struggles of socio-cultural adjustments, gains and pains of a South Asian migrant family who try to adjust their lives in a country with western socio-economic and cultural values.
This novel was originally written in Sinhala and was translated into English by late Mr. Sunil de Silva.
