“Sri Lanka is an ancient island. It cannot be hurried.” Appearing at the onset of Roma Tearne’s Mosquito, this passage is an apt summation of a beautifully rendered first novel that burns as slowly as a citronella candle.

Mosquito tells the tale of Theo Samarajeeva, a Sri Lankan novelist who has returned to his home country after spending 20 years in self-imposed exile only to find that the idyllic island he left is now a paradise lost. The nation’s hatred has split open like two halves of a coconut, as a civil war between the Sinhalese majority and the Tamil Tigers engulfs the tiny Indian Ocean island. Both sides commit horrendous crimes against one another, and though the novel begins in 1996 when both sides are supposedly adhering to a ceasefire, a shadow war is playing out in the villages and jungles of Sri Lanka.

Against this backdrop, Tearne unfolds a love story between the middle-aged author and the local girl that he hires to paint his portrait. Nulani Mendis is a 17-year-old who has been severely traumatized by the conflict. Withdrawing into her own world after witnessing her father’s brutal murder, Nulani has become a painter with the rare ability to render visible the invisible. Gradually, the relationship between the two transforms into something deeper and more powerful than either of them had expected. While this may sound unseemly, Tearne’s depiction of their romance is nuanced and sweet, and their unlikely love is truly romantic without resorting to cliché.

Secluded in a beach house on the outskirts of the nearest village, these love-struck artists remain refugees from reality as events conspire to draw them into the conflict. It is not until Theo is torn away from his typewriter that we begin to understand how completely his island has lost its way. Segueing from romance to tragedy, Theo and Nulani’s love story becomes a tale of hope and despair, a heart-rending exploration of displacement and belonging that is difficult to put down.

Tearne writes with a painter’s understanding that the artist does not merely capture a likeness, but rather an essence. She is a sensuous writer in the truest meaning of the word, capturing colours, scents and flavours with vivid descriptions and evocative prose. Though beautifully descriptive as befits her background as an Oxford-trained visual artist, she is perhaps less expectedly a strong storyteller who has the confidence to allow her tale to unfold slowly, gradually building up momentum as it flows.

Mosquito is a strong debut that deserves a wide audience. This story is well crafted and wise. Tearne has created a work of art that speaks to something deeper, something she alludes to when she writes, “Some say art is our highest form of hope. Perhaps it’s our only hope. Living has always been a desperate business.”