<p><b>An inspired travel narrative and family memoir by an exceptional writer</b></p><p></p><p>In the late 1970s, Ondaatje returned to his native island of Sri Lanka. As he records his journey through the drug-like heat and intoxicating fragrances of that &quot;pendant off the ear of India,&quot; Ondaatje simultaneously retraces the baroque mythology of his Dutch-Ceylonese family.</p><p></p>