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Arizona Journalist Publishes Engaging Literary Novel A MAIDEN’S PRAYER: A FAMILY STORY SET IN 1970s SRI LANKA is the title of Srianthi Perera’s entertaining debut novel. The story is immensely nostalgic to Sri Lankans who lived through that time. It can also be a wonderful way for their children, growing up in the Australian culture, to understand the issues and traditions that shaped their elders. The story features affluent bachelor Berty Rajakaruna, who refuses to conform to the traditional methods of finding a wife and faces unexpected consequences. It is narrated with much humor by his precocious niece Tamara de Silva. As with many middle-class Sri Lankan families of the day, the family is steeped in astrology and superstition and holds rigorous ideas on individual roles and behavior. Such beliefs plunge them into comical situations and unexpected consequences. The family is particularly keen to tie the knot on his behalf ...