His Sacred Army (Prison of Dreams)

His Sacred Army is the first volume of a quintet of novels, Prison of Dreams, which tells the story of the growth of the armed struggle in Sri Lanka in the eighties. Through the experiences of its characters, who desire simply to go about their ordinary lives, the quintet depicts the suffering and separations caused by the political exploitation of ethnic differences leading to a full-fledged civil war.

His Sacred Army centres around the life of a young woman, Rajalakshmi, and the small island community of Nainativu to which she belongs. Nainativu is situated off the coast of Sri Lanka and is a site rich in folklore and religious significance. Rajalakshmi's simple dreams of employment to support her struggling family and marriage to her childhood friend Suthan are threatened by malicious gossip in the village and civil conflict in the nation. Her beloved Suthan faces the dilemma of whether to follow his father's political path of constitutional reform or to join the growing separatist movement.