WRITING
Seek the Singing Fish
Roma’s debut novel, Seek The Singing Fish, was published by époque press and launched at the Waterstones Head Office (Piccadilly Circus) on June 23rd 2022. The initial print run sold out in the first two days of publication and has been going global thanks to Roma's international audience (600k+).
Orders can be made at Waterstones, Barnes & Noble, Foyles, Amazon and on the époque press website. Copies can also be ordered from your local independent bookshops.
Growing up in the lagoon town of Batticaloa, a young girl, with an unquenchable curiosity and love of the natural world, is entangled in the trauma and turmoil of the Sri Lankan civil war. Uprooted from everything she holds dear, tragedy and betrayal set in motion an unforgettable odyssey. Torn from east to west, struggling with what it means to belong, she desperately seeks a way home to the land of the singing fish.
'A tour de force! Written with such fluency and energy, the words leap off the page. Thoroughly original.'
- Reeta Chakrabarti
'A striking debut novel that charts a childhood ravaged by war and redeemed by the chimerical magic of the natural world. A book studded with fascinating insights into the animal kingdom that gives a fresh moral perspective to exceptional violence.' - Minoli Salgado
Roma's upcoming novels:
Anoda
A boy in the tropic heart of Sri Lanka forms an unforgettable bond with an elephant he calls Anoda. Bullied at school and convinced his father blames him for his mother’s death, the boy finds sanctuary only in the company of his ele. While human-wildlife conflict simmers in his village and his father hates the elephants for ravaging his crops, the boy is mesmerised by the grace and strange sadness of his giant companion. This unique and heart-warming friendship begins to morph as the boy connects to the memories of his dead mother through Anoda. As tensions rise with his father, the boy is driven to protect his elephant, at all costs.
Weaving memory, pain, beauty and belonging, this is not just a story about a boy and an elephant. It a story about hope and humanity’s connection to nature.
Animālis
When you look in the mirror, who is staring back?
Rala, a quirky teenager lost in her own world, is unable to answer this question. Bullied at school and confused about her sexuality, she is struggling to find a point to living after the tragic death of her beloved brother Leon.
When a train hurtles towards Rala on the London underground, she is plunged into the mind warping world of Animālis. This is a bizarre, fantastical realm where the senses blur, logic crumbles and the landscapes burst with mind boggling creatures. Rala embarks on an unforgettable odyssey where she undertakes three key trials; facing her fear, understanding happiness and exploring the meaning to life itself.
This is a journey inwards into finding out who Rala, and the reader, really is. It is a moving discovery that we are the storyteller who decides how the sentences of our life unfold, but we must travel within to discover our own unique ink. The story offers a refreshing perspective on what it means to live, packed with useful psychological tools and mindful lessons enwrapped in a vibrant, captivating adventure.