Bøger af Ru Freeman

"It is hard for any of us to separate what is imagined from what is real. We are all story-tellers of our own lives, narrating what we observe, making sense of it all. What happens around us is equally complicated for, as the writer, Anaèis Nin put it, "we don't see the world as it is, as we see it as we are." In that liminal space between what is and what we think it is, we write history: our own and that of others. That word, history, has its origins in the Greek term, historia, which implies a dynamic process of finding out, of inquiry, rather than the passivity of recording. This collection then, is a similar endeavor. It is a writer's attempt to train her eye on what is unfolding around her, as well as herself, all of it viewed through a kaleidoscope constructed of four mirrors: place, culture, politics, and a self that shares its borders with all three. Words are the glass beads inside. Twist the instrument and the world rearranges itself. Bon Courage is a fierce, moving, eclectic and intimate collection-wide ranging and inclusive in the essay mode, deep and revealing as a memoir, with the dynamics and layering of great fiction. As if that's not enough, it sings. Ru Freeman is able to participate intimately while bringing global perspectives to subjects as diverse as Bowie and Dylan, Palestine, 9/11, hairstyles, personal and cultural identity, and #Me too. This is a resplendent and compendious exploration of great empathy, insight, and bon courage indeed. It's going to make a great book. It's going to make a difference"--

SHE LOVED FINE THINGS, AND SHE HAD NO DOUBT THAT SHE DESERVED THEM. . . . Young Latha knows that she was not meant to be a servant. She was born for finer things, like the rose-smelling soap she steals from the family she has worked for since she was five, or the glasses of fresh lime juice she helps herself to after a long day. But the hard truth is that her life is tied to Thara, the family’s spoiled daughter, and for the next thirty years they grow up bound by love, betrayal, resentment, and an impossible secret. Then there is Biso, a devoted mother of three, who risks everything to escape from her tyrannical husband. Though her journey begins with hope, she navigates a disastrous path that ultimately binds her story to Latha and Thara’s in the most unexpected and heartbreaking way. Set against the volatile backdrop of class and prejudice in Sri Lanka, A Disobedient Girl is a bold and deeply moving tale about the will to survive and the incredible power of the human spirit to transcend the unforgiving sweep of tragedy.

In the tradition of In the Time of the Butterflies and The Kite Runner, a tender, evocative novel about the years leading up to the Sri Lankan civil war* A Library Journal Best Indie Fiction of 2013 * A Largehearted Boy Best Book of the Year *On the day the Herath family moves in, Sal Mal Lane is still a quiet street, disturbed only by the cries of the children whose triumphs and tragedies sustain the families that live there. As the neighbors adapt to the newcomers in different ways, the children fill their days with cricket matches, romantic crushes, and small rivalries. But the tremors of civil war are mounting, and the conflict threatens to engulf them all. In a heartrending novel poised between the past and the future, the innocence of the children-a beloved sister and her overprotective siblings, a rejected son and his twin sisters, two very different brothers-contrasts sharply with the petty prejudices of the adults charged with their care. In Ru Freeman's masterful hands, On Sal Mal Lane, a story of what was lost to a country and her people, becomes a resounding cry for reconciliation.

Since her days in the orphanage, Latha has been a companion and servant to Thara, a more fortunate girl her own age. But since her trip to the hill country when she caught her first glimpse of a rose, Latha has known she was destined for a better life. For now, she must watch silently as Thara receives all the luxuries Latha is denied, consoled only by the rose-scented soap stolen from the bathroom of her master's house.Years and miles away, Biso, a desperate young mother, flees from her murderous husband, taking her children with her to the remote hills. As Biso and Latha journey towards their separate fates, struggling to hold on to their independence, each will betray the people they love, changing the course of their lives for ever.A Disobedient Girl is an epic, heartbreaking novel about the linked destinies of two women, set against the backdrop of beautiful, politically turbulent Sri Lanka.