Roma Tearne

Mosquito

In advance of her new novel 'The Road to Urbino, read Roma Tearne, s brilliant 'Brixton Beach, . Opening with the horrors of the London bombings, this is the profoundly moving story of civil war and a child, s struggle to come to terms with lo

Brixton Beach

Bone China

When author Theo Samarajeeva returns to his native Sri Lanka he is in search of inspiration in the lush landscape of a beautiful but increasingly war-torn land. Gradually love blossoms between Theo and a budding artist, only to be torn apart when tensions in the troubled country erupt into violence.

Grace de Silva, a mother of five, struggles to hold her family and her crumbling marriage together as civil unrest stirs in Sri Lanka. Her husband is charming but shiftless, and her children are poised to pursue their dreams for the future. Jacob, her eldest, wants to leave home for England, while Frieda longs to remain in her homeland. Thornton, Grace’s favourite son, dreams of becoming a poet; his sister Alicia wants to be a concert pianist. But when Grace’s youngest son, Christopher, becomes embroiled in the political tensions tearing apart the country, this once happy family is suddenly fractured. As four of the siblings make their way to London, they become caught in a cultural clash between East and West, and life as they’ve known it changes forever.

On the lush coast of Sri Lanka, a talented and beautiful young woman, Nulani, returns day after day to the verandah of a beach house to paint. Her subject is Theo, a writer attempting to heal from a tragic loss and struggling to complete a faltering novel. Just as love blossoms between them, the country is shaken by civil war. Through the years that follow, Nulani and Theo must depend upon their memories and the art that once brought them together to find the strength to face their much changed lives. In a rare and unforgettable work, Roma Tearne captures both the fragility and the endurance of love. The story unfolds in a beguiling landscape as Tearne presents us with the turmoil of the Sri Lankan civil war, told unusually from a woman's point of view.

Bone china

A permanently frozen London is the setting for Roma Tearne’s 'thoughtful exploration' [The Guardian] of survival in a dystopian near-future. 'Tearne reminds us that, woven into London's cosmopolitanism, are memories of places to which individuals can never return' Brixton Review of Books A permanently frozen London is the setting for this harrowing yet lyrical tale of survival in a dystopian near-future. Through endless years of glacial winter, artist Hera has known loss. Her one comfort has been her relationship with Raphael. As the thaw begins, can she track down her elusive lover?

The White City

Opening dramatically with the horrors of the 2005 London bombings, this is the profoundly moving story of a country on the brink of civil war and a child's struggle to come to terms with loss.

In advance of her new novel ‘The Road to Urbino’ read Roma Tearne’s epic novel of love, loss and a family uprooted, set in the contrasting landscapes of war-torn Sri Lanka and immigrant London.

Despite the dark clouds of war looming on the horizon, thirteen-year-old Cecily's head is full of first love, ice cream and sibling rivalry. She looks constantly to her impossibly beautiful elder sister, Rose, with a mixture of envy and admiration. Desperately curious about Rose's secrets, and those of all the adults around her, Cecily eavesdrops at every opportunity that summer: with dire consequences. For Cecily's actions one fateful night at the outbreak of the Second World War will ultimately tear her family apart and echo across the generations. It is not until many years later that a grown-up Cecily can return to her childhood home and unravel the remaining family secrets. And finally lay some ghosts to rest.

The Last Pier

A story of obsession, love and art set in Tuscany, Sri Lanka and London. Ras, a Sri Lankan who fled his country as a child following the violent death of his mother and his father's disappearance, has committed a crime. Dogged by his past and unable to come to terms with the killing of his mother, he struggles to make a new life for himself in the UK. Alex has loved Dee since he was 19 but failed to realise that it was a love he wouldn't find again. After Dee's marriage, he too struggles to build a meaningful life for himself. But when Ras' and Alex's lives connect, each man takes a new path culminating for Ras in the theft of a della Franceso painting, while Alex comes ever closer to Dee through tragedy in her life. Beautifully written, with a strong narrative, The Road to Urbino is the story of two very different men and their love for the women in their lives, set against the backdrop of the heartbreaking horrors of the long-running conflict in Sri Lanka.

The Road to Urbino

An elderly refugee couple sit patiently on the train waiting to see their long lost son; a young destitute mother is forced to give up her daughter; a middle-aged Tamil woman sits at her kitchen table, alone in her house in England, waiting for her husband, and a boy leaves Sri Lanka in search of a better life. Weaving together a moving tapestry, these stories depict the fate of the immigrant. From Roma Tearne, bestselling author of The Swimmer and Brixton Beach, come these wonderful stories that speak of the horrors of war, the collective guilt of the survivor, of loss, and of belonging in a place that you don't call home.

The Dark Side of the World

Bernardine Evaristo

Abdulrazak Gurnah

Monica Ali

Ian Sansom

David Constantine

David Herd

Patrick Gale

Lisa Appignanesi

Jonathan Skinner

Gillian Slovo

Lytton Smith

Emma Parsons

Jonathan Wittenberg

With nationalism and the far right on the rise across Europe and North America, there has never been a more important moment to face up to what we, in Britain, are doing to those who seek sanctuary. Still the UK detains people indefinitely under immigration rules. Bail hearings go unrecorded, people are picked up without notice, individuals feel abandoned in detention centres with no way of knowing when they will be released. In Refugee Tales III we read the stories of people who have been through this process, many of whom have yet to see their cases resolved and who live in fear that at any moment they might be detained again. Poets, novelists and writers have once again collaborated with people who have experienced detention, their tales appearing alongside first-hand accounts by people who themselves have been detained. What we hear in these stories are the realities of the hostile environment, the human costs of a system that disregards rights, that denies freedoms and suspends lives. ‘We hear so many of the wrong words about refugees – ugly, limiting, unimaginative words – that it feels like a gift to find here so many of the right words which allow us to better understand the lives around us, and our own lives too.’ – Kamila Shamsie All profits go to the Gatwick Detainee Welfare Group and Kent Help for Refugees.

Roma Tearne

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