“If I’d been in Sri Lanka, I would have been on the very pro-Sinhalese-Buddhist side that said, ‘we won, we’ve got to celebrate that victory,’” he explains. Savanadasa believes the physical distance of being in Australia during this time gave him a new perspective of this time in Sri Lanka’s history, and used the political change as a backdrop for the story. Ruins is set in Colombo at the end of Sri Lanka's civil war in 2009 and follows a family going through a significant change. The following years, filled with short stories and writing workshops, led Savanadasa to this point: releasing his debut novel Ruins ( Hachette). In his final year of study he took a couple of philosophy and creative writing electives and excelled at them. However, moving to Melbourne to study engineering at RMIT in 2001 helped Savanadasa, now 34, discover his untapped creativity.

Highly recommended.Growing up in Colombo, Sri Lanka, there was a certain trajectory that Rajith Savanadasa’s career was meant to follow: 'becoming a doctor, lawyer or engineer.' Ruins stands out from other Australian debuts for its ambitious structure, its vibrant setting, and the depth and complexity of the Sri Lankan family at the centre of the story. It’s a genuine page-turner, filled with deeply flawed, interesting characters who I kept thinking about (and worrying about) long after reading the final page.

This is a book bursting with plot and drama. The book’s fifth voice belongs to Latha, the family’s long-suffering servant, who is torn between loyalty to the family she works for and the family she left behind in her hometown. Their two children – Anoushka and Niranjan – are both grappling with traditions and cultural beliefs that they find restrictive, and struggling to figure out who they are and who they want to be. Mano’s wife Lakshmi is affected by the Sri Lankan civil war and the fate of a missing Tamil boy, and feels isolated and misunderstood by her family. Mano is under increasing pressure at his workplace, and he’s tired of trying to keep everyone in his family happy. Mano and Lakshmi are the patriarch and matriarch, and their marriage has grown strained. It follows the fortunes and misfortunes of a family, with each chapter narrated by one of the five central characters in the household. Set in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Rajith Savanadasa’s debut novel Ruins is a sweeping family saga that looks at class, wealth, gender, intergenerational conflict, cultural conflict, politics and more.

Ruins rajith savanadasa