Ramya Chamalie Jirasinghe weaves together two centuries of history on a tropical island in the Indian Ocean—present-day and colonial—to examine legacies of exploitation and love. In the 21st century, war correspondent Katharina Silvaria finds solace in baking an old recipe discovered in her inherited house, until a wounded fugitive seeks shelter there during a government uprising. Running parallel is the 17th-century story of Santiago De Melo and Maria, a local woman who defies convention as both his bride and a pepper farm owner, their union threatened by a brutal colonial power's greed. This novel explores how personal choices and colonial violence echo across generations on the island's shores.
