Novel set in NORTH LONDON and Colombo

22nd October 2025

The Professional by Ashok Ferrey, novel set in North London and Colombo.

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It is always delightful when we can engage with our readers and this was a recommendation from Louise C who knows Sri Lanka very well.

The novel is set in the 1980s but it has a timeless theme.

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Chamath has recently graduated from Oxford and is now in London looking for work, but without the right permits (he is from Sri Lanka), he has to resort to labouring on a building site (not his natural forte). He then takes on some extra curricular evening work, discovering that there is a market for escorts. It proves lucrative, he will no longer have to sell the family apartment but when his friend and squeeze Jamila finds out what is keeping him occupied, she is appalled and breaks off their friendship. Chamath is happy enough with his ‘professional’ status but he regrets the abrupt ending with Jamila.

His job does not come without some soul searching, which becomes acute when his day job is terminated. Is it proving addictive? How does he feel about himself? At times it seems he is merely a participant in other people’s lives. One couple in particular takes a shine to him and he blurs the professional boundaries as he is drawn into their orbit.

Over in Colombo an older man is going about his daily business, living in a rental apartment, in the same block as his landladies. The latter add colour to his life, acquire a frisky dog and generally entertain him with their antics and banter. He spends his day working on a manuscript, offering a rich sense of life in the city.

This is a story very much of time and place. The 1980s are richly evoked, with milk floats gliding through the early morning in London, Roscoe Tanner on court at Wimbledon and nods to contemporary interior designs (Chamath is tasked with doing up the flat). Sri Lanka feels well drawn, particularly the sense of place and the mores and manners of the people. It is a story of immigration, with a mix and clash of cultures, of expectation and ultimately of a man who is flailing, someone in danger of burying his sense of self. The story is written with a light hand, with humour and skilled observation.

The novel – in terms of style and theme – very much reminded me of Paro by Namita Gokhale, set in Bombay.

Tina for the TripFiction Team

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