Cherry Briggs

The young author is to be congratulated on diligence and enterprise but not much else. An expat teacher in Sri Lanka she uses the device of following the route of a colonial administrator from the nineteenth century around the island to tell us about its state today.

She has a clichéd but pleasant eye for description, quotes the odd passage from her Victorian era guide and in backpacker style tells us about her extended holiday.

As an elementary guide to Sri Lanka it's OK. But it offers no insights, no confidence that we are reading a potentially original travel writer and no lasting memories.… (mehr)