Free at Last in Paradise

FREE AT LAST IN PARADISE is a historical novel on Sri Lanka. This Island nation of great antiquity had been known to the Greeks and the Romans as Taprobane, to the Arabs as Serendip, to the Portuguese as Ceilao and to the Dutch as Ceylaan. A British Colony from 1796 to 1948, it has been known as Ceylon until, as a republic in 1972, it reverted to its age-old nomenclature of Sri Lanka. Its rich culture as reflected by an astounding heritage of monuments, literature, art, religious traditions and social values has merited many scholarly works. This is a pioneering work in that a reputed scholar-diplomat of Sri Lanka has chosen the medium of fiction to share the highlights of this heritage with the worldwide English-reading public. It is a fictography or a fictional biography which 'draws aside curtains and allows the reader to enter a world to which other authors had not been privy - one of the central character growing to adulthood and death.' Portraying Sri Lanka's march to Independence over well nigh a century, the novel highlights the role of Colonel Henry Steel Olcott, Madame Blavatsky and other Theosophists of USA who spearheaded the struggle of this British Colony for liberation through the revival of Buddhism and nationalistic sentiments. The key characters are renowned protgs of Olcott, who continues to be hailed and honored as a foremost national leader. 'The book will be read with pleasure,' says David Vickery of Britain, 'by those who love Ceylon and introduce those who have no knowledge of the country to a fascinating society.'