Amma by Saraid de Silva

Singapore, 1951
When Josephina is a girl, her parents lock her in a room with the father of the boy to whom she's betrothed. What happens next will determine the lives of generations to come.

New Zealand, 1984
Josephina and her family leave Sri Lanka for New Zealand. But their new home is not what they expected, and for the children, Sithara and Suri, a sudden and shocking event changes everything.

London, 2018
Arriving on her uncle Suri's doorstep, jetlagged and heartbroken, Annie has no idea what to expect - all she knows is that Suri was cast out of the family before she was born.

Moving between cities and generations, Amma follows three women on very different paths, against a backdrop of shifting cultures. As circumstance and misunderstanding force them apart, it will take the most profound love to knit them back together before it's too late.

Saraid de Silva is a Sri Lankan Pakeha writer and creative based in Tāmaki Makaurau. She is the co-creator and co-host of Radio New Zealand's Conversations with My Immigrant Parents, a podcast and video series in which immigrant whanau across Aotearoa have frank conversations about love, ancestry, home, food, expectation and acceptance.

Paperback, published March 2024.