Originally from Sri Lanka, Anil Tissera has lived abroad—in Europe and the United States—since she was 18. A forensic pathologist, she has worked for numerous human rights organizations, identifying remains after periods of violence in various places. She returns to Sri Lanka after a 15-year absence to investigate the potential human rights violations being committed there during the country’s ongoing civil war. She feels alienated from the Sri Lanka of her youth and, thus, from parts of herself: Her parents have died; she no longer speaks the language fluently; the war renders her homeland frightening and strange. Over the course of the novel, Anil rediscovers her connection to Sri Lanka and herself.

Anil’s alienation from Sri Lanka ties her to the theme of Rootlessness and Return. Her rootlessness began early, when she decided as a child to campaign for another name, not merely the result of feeling alienated from the identity assigned to her by her gender and nationality. She is different, and needs a name that suits that difference: “She knew herself to be, and was known to others as, a determined creature” (67). She is not willing to pretend to be something she is not, putting her in direct conflict with traditional Sri Lankan culture.