Two days before Christmas in 1987, at the age of 17, Niromi de Soyza found herself in an ambush as part of a small platoon of militant Tamil Tigers fighting government forces in the bloody civil war that was to engulf Sri Lanka for decades. With her was her lifelong friend, Ajanthi, also aged 17.
Leaving behind them their shocked middle-class families, the teenagers had become part of the Tamil Tigers' first female contingent. Equipped with little more than a rifle and a cyanide capsule, Niromi's group managed to survive on their wits in the jungle, facing not only the perils of war but starvation, illness and growing internal tensions among the militant Tigers. And then events erupted in ways that she could no longer bear.
How was it that this well-educated, mixed-race, middle-class girl from a respectable family came to be fighting with the Tamil Tigers? Today she lives in Sydney with her husband and children; but Niromi de Soyza is not your ordinary woman and this is her compelling story.
An Eyeopening Account
As a Sinhalese and living in a foreign country I have largely been blinded to the Tamil side of the terrible Sri Lankan Civil War. Niromi de Soyza's very descriptive approach at letting the readers also experience what she went through as a child soldier was very rewarding. In some points in this novel I really did connect with it as I have visited the spots she had mentioned and her direct contact with LTTE leader Prabhakaran surprised me. All in all this is a very well written book for those who wish to experience or gain knowledge of one side of the Sri Lankan Civil War.
Guest, 18/07/2014
