Isle of Eden Revisited

The original ‘Isle of Eden’, a collection of short stories written by J.A.R. Grenier, was published in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), in December 1960. He was born in Ceylon and was an author and fisherman of renown, whose family lineage goes back many generations in this beautiful tropical island. This revised and expanded edition, ‘Isle of Eden Revisited’, includes the complete original text, and eight additional stories. 

His son, David J. Grenier, an award-winning photographer, provided the photographs attached to each story, as well as the back cover, shot during a trip back to the land of his birth in 2014. David’s son, Dean J. Grenier, created the page layouts, as well as the artwork design of the front and back pages, thereby involving three generations in the production of this revised and expanded version.

J.A.R. Grenier writes with all the vigour and realism of the storytellers of old. There is salt in his veins, and in his heart a strong affection for and a kindly understanding of the people of the land of his birth. The people about whom he writes are just ordinary folk; fisherman, labourers, bargees, beggars and gram-vendors, washerman and peasants, any of whom one may meet anywhere in the beautiful Island.

These stories are never dull or insipid. The author’s characterisations are lively and full-blooded, even though, at times, they seem harsh and brutal like the lives led by those around whom he weaves his fascinating tales.