A memoir of lives lived and times gone by, written by a husband, dedicated to his wife. It is the story of Leslie and Ranjani de Silva.

Beginning in the 1940s and 1950s, this story journeys through their lives as students and later as working people. A record of daily life, of living and working, holidays and travelling, past and present, it remembers events, places, people and friends. Peradeniya, Kandy and Colombo are all captured at moments in time. At the heart of this book is the University of Peradeniya, at a time when it was still a very special place. It was here that Leslie and Ranjani de Silva met and married and this account chronicles its institutions, its personalities, its buildings and its social life. The formation of the University, its early days and its dramas, are all remembered in detail. One of the figures who emerges from these pages is the Vice Chancellor of the University, Sir Nicholas Attygalle, physician and administrator, for whom Ranjani de Silva worked. Entitled “Humanity behind a stern exterior,” her recollection of this distinctive, sometimes controversial figure, reveals the sympathy and understanding her friends remember her for.

The detail is close and careful yet the narrative is crisp and simple. Although set so long ago, at times these memories seems very fresh and real, so do the people.

A work of love, written with love. Perhaps this is what makes it so easy to read.