Few other countries are currently producing as much world-class literature as Sri Lanka. So which novels should you read?

What really makes Sri Lanka tick? Perhaps these 5 very local cameos might provide a clue.

When King Kashyapa took up residence in Sigiriya, he triggered a party that, like the ancient world itself, raced to its corporeal end with all the aplomb of the last serving of the lost martini on board the Titanic. But what made it so extraordinary?

How long is life, and what might you usefully do with the later bits?

Is it possible to reverse-engineer the last 5 decades and make Sundays special again? Perhaps.

It’s often said that to rule, you must be ruthless to excess. But exactly what were the excesses created by these final Sri Lankan kings as to earn them a place on a list of wicked monarchs?

Spoiled for choice, selecting the naughtiest monarchs of Sri Lanka is an arduous job. But why does the list begin with its founding father, and a latter queen who made a kitten out of Henry VIII of England?

Enochlophobia may be one of ageing’s more agreeable symptoms – but what do you do about it when the Kandy Perehera is in full swing?

In Sri Lanka, the expert is there right next to you - on the train, in the street, everywhere in fact. But what happens when you seek one in a doctor’s waiting room?

If you are English, do you really need sex? Can you not encounter la petite mort simply upon waking up?

She was the pin-up of her times – but was it about the island’s first queen that caused so much disquiet, even now, and where might you still find her?

Sri Lanka’s gems are as perfect a thing for first nights as they are for crowns, thrones, diadems - and even my missing tiara. But should it be enough to merely murmur their magical names, or must you wear them too?

Sri Lanka may have lost its last king in 1815, but since Independence, its leading families have more than made up for the difference. Who are they – and what are they up to today?

Why is it always better to have your hair cut under frangipani trees?

Sri Lanka was ruled by hundreds of kings and a handful of queens for over 2,000 years. But which of them were among its six most egregious baddies – and why?

Who was Chinta | And why does her death – and life – matter quite so much? Today is the saddest of days, for Chinta has died. The inexorable world will not stop its spin around the sun, nor will Sri Lanka pause to know this. Even in our little town of Galagedera, the news will affect just a few. But here on the estate, we all stop, deeply shocked, barely knowing how to react or what to do next. Chinta had been away from work for a day, complaining of being a little tired an