Reef (Shortlisted For Booker Prize For Fiction 1994)

Description: Reef is a love story set in a spoiled paradise. It is told by Trtion, who at the age of eleven goes to work as a houseboy to Mister Salgado, a marine biologist obsessed by swamps, sea movements and the island's disappearing reef. Triton learns to polish silver; to mix a love cake with ten eggs, creamed butter and fresh cashew nuts; and to steam the exotic parrot fish for his master's lover.

Prizes: Shortlisted for Booker Prize for Fiction 1994.

Author Biography: ROMESH GUNESEKERA grew up in Sri Lanka and now lives in London. His debut novel Reef was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Guardian Fiction Prize in 1994 and won the Yorkshire Post First Work Prize. In 1997 he was awarded the prestigious Premio Mondello award in Italy. He is also the author of a collection of stories, Monkfish Moon, and a novel, The Sandglass, both of which are published by Granta Books.