When family tragedy strikes, Alice Fonseka, the dreamy, artistic child of a Singhalese mother and Tamil father, leaves the beautiful island of Sri Lanka. Unable to bear the injustice of what has happened, her family heads for England.There, in a totally foreign environment, Alice builds a life for herself and fi nds outlets for her art. But she remains restless, haunted by memories of the past, and, even in London, the threat of violence is never far away.

Roma Tearne is a Sri Lankan-born novelist and filmmaker whose books include Bone China and Mosquito. She has been short-listed for the Costa, the Kirimaya, and Los Angeles Times Book Prize and long-listed for the Orange Prize and the Asian Man Booker.