Book description
'What had there been before such a ship in my life? A dugout canoe on
a river journey? A launch in Trincomalee harbour? There were always
fishing boats on our horizon. But I could never imagine the grandeur
of this castle that was to cross the sea'.
In the early 1950s, an eleven-year-old boy boards a huge liner in
Colombo bound for England. At mealtimes he is seated at the lowly
'cat's table' - as far from the Captain's table as can be - with a
ragtag group of adults and two other boys, Cassius and Ramadhin. As
the ship crosses the Indian Ocean the boys tumble from one adventure
to another,and at night they spy on a shackled prisoner - his crime
and fate a mystery that will haunt them forever...
Michael Ondaatje was born in Sri Lanka in 1943. In the 1950s he moved
to England, and went to school in south London. In 1962 he emigrated to
Canada, where he has lived ever since. His books include his memoir,
Running in the Family
, numerous collections of poetry, and five novels - including
The
English Patient
which won the 1992 Booker Prize.
