Struck by the Sea

By Daniele Galasso

The emotional story of two identical and orphaned twins whose lives were suddenly disrupted by the Tsunami of 2004.  During her desperate and relentless search for her sister, Nilanthi met her future adoptive parents, who brought her back to the United States with them shortly after the natural disaster. Near Boston, she was given a home, an education and all the love she had ever hoped for. While her parents continued to search for Amandeep, her sister, Nilanthi sought refuge in her studies to suppress the feeling of emptiness that continued to fill her heart with tears. Eight years later, estranged from the rest of her peers, living in a world of her own and accademically over-achieved, Nilanthi came across a boy with a difficult and troublesome past who managed to revolutionized her world, her heart and her fate.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BadPress
• Release date: Apr 12, 2017
• ISBN: 9781507160381

Book preview

Struck by the Sea

Part One - Sri Lanka

The life of Amandeep and Nilanthi was just as monotonous and as calm as that of the other abandoned children hosted at the Dharma orphanage center of Batticaloa, on the island of Sri Lanka. At first glance, no one could tell them apart and, although they were genetically identical and had grown up in the same environment, they had an entirely different personality.    In fact, Amandeep was sweet and obedient, while Nilanthi was rebellious and quarrelsome. Both sisters were thin with very long hair and deep brown eyes. They had been living in the center for quite some time and the management was considering making room for other children: smaller, unfortunate and more helpless children than them. One day, an old lady offered to take care of the twins in exchange for a little help with the housework. As soon as they turned twelve, the sisters were transferred to Mrs. Chaudry's home, a hut near the beach. They felt as if they'd been thrown from the frying pan into the fire because the sweet little lady had not been so honest about their newly acquired accommodations. The girls imagined that the director of the Dharma orphanage center, Mr. Thusara, had probably sensed something was amiss about that woman, but that he had just preferred to ignore it.  Ever since their first day in that place, Amandeep and Nilanthi were forced to make paper flowers from dawn until sunset. And, once again, the two sisters reacted very differently to their new situation. Amandeep knew other children of the area were subjected to similar conditions and thus preferred not to complain about accomodations. Nilanthi, however, was one of those individuals who did not give up easily and she just couldn't accept the fact that she had to give up on the few hours of schooling that had given meaning to her life until that point. She also missed the precious moments spent with her teacher Dilip at the end of each class. He was a university student who worked for free and who made sure the only class of the orphanage would receive a minimum of education. Mr. Dilip believed Nilanthi had that extra something compared to the other children: a talent and natural understanding that few individuals possess. He even lent her his medical schoolbooks once, just to see how she would react to that stimulus, and was stunned to discover how quickly this puny girl had learned most of the secrets of the human anatomy. Nilanthi was interested in all subjects, but she had a certain inclination towards genetics. She knew everything there was to know about cell division, mitosis or meiosis, as well as Mendel's laws, and had been very sad to have been forced to stop studying Morgan's experiments on Drosophila flies.

Sometimes, she admired her sister, who was just happy to know how to read and write. Nilanthi felt that a life spent making fake flowers in a factory and without books to study was pretty useless and this made her even harsher and more bitter. Only her Dilip was able to make her smile, like that one time when he’d surprised her with a visit.

They had hugged each other like old friends and had walked on the beach together.

–How nice to see you little one! The director, Mr. Thusara, told me where to find you. How are you and Amandeep doing?

-"Well, thank