It is the curious encounters behind these often precarious adventures that make up The Last Colonial . The stories tell of Ondaatje’s childhood days in Ceylon, his early life in Canada, his fascination with inexplicable events and local superstitions, and his sometimes perilous travels researching biographies of Ernest Hemingway in Africa, Leonard Woolf in Ceylon, and Sir Richard Burton in India and Africa.

Complemented by the artist Ana Maria Pacheco’s magical, sometimes disturbing illustrations, the stories conjure up a truly unique portrait of a world that is vanishing forever.

Thames & Hudson, 2011.
ISBN: 9780500251867. 256 pp.
Hardcover. Near fine in a near fine jacket.