Sri Lanka is a small island, and the war affected everybody. Everybody knew somebody who was killing or being killed.

I really try to avoid, you know, rolling out the history. The people are so important to me, and what happens to them, how they react, how things happen to them, this is what is important. I feel that if I can tell THAT story well, then people will go and Google the rest and fill in what they need to know.

I think a lot, so I don't spend a lot of time actually writing - I do that part very quickly. That helps, for me. To keep track of the characters.

I was interested in writing something that has meaning in the larger context of global conflicts anywhere.

Sri Lanka is a small island, and the war affected everybody. Everybody knew somebody who was killing or being killed.

There are other sources, but Wikipedia is a good start.

Fiona McCrae is a really amazing editor. Really smart and very astute about what a story needs.