Lit and food with ‘Colonial child’ Dinah Jefferies
With the backdrop of exquisite views of the Indian Ocean and the serene lagoon where the Gin Ganga meets the sea, the Villa Republic Galle hosted a Literary Lunch on Friday January 18 with British writer Dinah Jefferies. Overlooking the shady Araliya trees in bloom in the courtyard outside, the dining area manifested the ancient legacy of Southern architecture with capacious verandahs and wooden railings running around.
Dinah Jefferies at the lunch and below, the cosy elegance of the Villa Republic. Pix by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
The lunch was simple yet colourful: Sun- dried tomato with cucumber stack and tomato soup were the appetizer options while Asian flavoured modha fish with noodles and poached vegetables, grilled chicken with plain rice and baked aubergines for the main course, followed by Date cake with ice cream for dessert.
“I was a colonial child born and raised in British Malaya,” said Dinah whose books have made the Sunday Times UK best seller lists repeatedly. The country she lived in as a little girl until she was nine years old inspired her first work of fiction ‘The Separation’.
At the lunch Dinah recalled her session at the FGLF,‘In Conversation: The Tea Planter’s Wife’. “The Fairway Pavilion was completely packed which was something I didn’t expect at all. I was so touched to see hundreds of people queuing to get their books autographed,” she said. Dinah loves the food and vibrant colours of Sri Lanka where everything is so bright because of the sunshine, friendly people and relaxed atmosphere. She also loved taking quiet walks around the Galle Fort in the evenings.
Two of her best known books are set here – ‘The Tea Planter’s Wife’ in lush tea country overlooking the Castlereigh reservoir and ‘The Sapphire Widow’ about a gem merchant’s family in 1930s Ceylon.
With all her Asian stories relating to history such as ‘The Silk Merchant’s Daughter’ based in colonial Vietnam under the French, ‘Before the Rains’ based in Rajputana, India and ‘The Missing Sister’ based in 1930s Burma, Dinah claims, “the stories are inspired from research, information gathered from books, memoirs, movies and real stories of people which helped in making realistic representations of places and events.”
Australian Steve Castley, one of the participants at the event, who has lived in Bali, Indonesia for over 20 years, was on his fifth visit to FGLF. “Galle is an intimate, historic and beautiful venue to be at and to have great company and there’s always something different every year at the festival.” Steve loves to read books by Lankan authors, one of his favourites being Shyam Selvadurai. He is also a fan of Dinah’s books. “I like the way she does research for her books and how she places her stories in Asia which are really appealing to the readers.”
Also at Dinah’s lunch was Yvonne Balfour from Edinburgh, Scotland, on her first visit here. “I find Dinah’s books very insightful,” she said.
Dinah’s two new books will be set away from Asia, this time in Italy, she reveals.