“I think about how the relationship between the characters in my novel might somehow mirror the relationship between reader and characters—how readers might, at times, love a character only to feel betrayed by them in a later chapter when they behave selfishly or out of spite. Or how a reader might loathe a character for her spinelessness only to feel surprised and drawn in by her bravery in a later scene. Rather than a singular line of identification, some long-lasting friendships require a bit of messiness or unpredictability—and distance.” You can read the entire essay here. 

“Stories of Another Civil War”

This often fascinating and always carefully linked collection of stories shows the effect of such devastating civil war not only on a country, but on individuals. We see families scared, on edge, and broken by war, and we see outsiders—often volunteers from America like Luloff was—becoming entangled in the war and loss, as well.

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Joanna Luloff’s debut collection, The Beach at Galle Road (Algonquin), meticulously avoids the fighting in its depiction of wartime Sri Lanka. Students, teachers, innkeepers, and a few foreign travelers do their best to keep up some semblance of hope against increasingly troubling news from the island’s restive north.

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“In The Beach at Galle Road Joanna Luloff portrays, with exquisite passion and restraint, the troubled history of Sri Lanka. Writing from the point of view of young and old, Sri Lankans and Americans, civilians and soldiers, Luloff takes us deep into a country and a culture. Together these wonderful stories form an intricate web in which we, her readers, are happily caught. The Beach at Galle Road is a wise and profoundly moving debut.”
–Margot Livesey, author of The Flight of Gemma Hardy

In her debut, Luloff weaves a montage of stories into a cohesive whole as she explores the roles of tradition and family and the destructive power of war through the lives of each character…

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