On the Far Side, There's a Boy

Martine Haslett feels fine: happy and fine. A sensual, thirty-something 1980s London woman, she plays hard on the fringes of the drag club scene, works hard and dates hard. Then one particular night with a new man prompts her to sign up to a charity and write to a young Sri Lankan boy, with consequences far and long. Meanwhile in Sri Lanka, a young girl is compelled to help her little brother Mohan with a task she'd rather do for herself. Struggling with change and tragedy in her family life in rural Kandy, the girl embarks on a foolish course. In 2013, Martine has returned from the beautiful Kandyan mountains. But even now there's much of the journey and her past that Martine knows she still avoids. There are still letters in a box that she won't touch, a nocturnal dream that she longs to dream to its conclusion, and she's unsure about a foreigner who's soon arriving to stay. Martine knows she must overcome the history of her hopes. But all this time she has been bound to the Sri Lankan girl by the young boy Mohan, and the moon that shines on them both. It's just that Martine is unaware how much. This is an exotic fable for anyone who has ever longed to have, or adopt, a child.