Synopses & Reviews
An accomplished debut,
The Flower Boy is the tragically romantic story of people from two cultures, one ruling the other, and the human passions that defy and nearly overcome social taboos.
In the colonial society of 1930s Ceylon, the separation between servant and master is clearly drawn. Young Chandi, however, knows that the baby born to his mothers mistress will be his friend. And, indeed, their friendship blossoms in the lush gardens of the tea plantation on which they live. Many, English and Ceylonese, are troubled by the friendship, but the English planter is charmed by the childrens bond, and ultimately by Chandis mother, Premawathi. But the world encroaches on their Eden. Beautifully observed, compellingly plotted, The Flower Boy is a compassionate novel of a lost world and those who struggled to hold on to it.
Synopsis
On a lush tea estate in Ceylon in the 1930s, two young children play using 'nothing but their imagination, ' pretending to be monkeys and swinging from the vines. But their idyll is interrupted when the world of adult sorrows encroaches on their paradise. Chandi and Lizzie, the children at the heart of this ambitious and extraordinary first novel by Sri Lankan author Karen Roberts, are born into different social worlds, yet they achieve a friendship innocent in its purpose, perfect in its understanding, and threatening to the adults around them. And when trouble comes, though, it is from a shocking direction.
An enchanting story of love and loss, and an impassioned portrait of a country trying to shake its colonial yoke, "The Flower Boy" will capture the reader's imagination until the very last page.
About the Author
Born and raised in Sri Lanka, Karen Roberts now lives in California.