The Everlasting Field, a novel of epic dimensions, deals with the complexities of love set in a perilous time and place. Along with its polemical satire of socialism and nationalism, Chandra Perera's gripping narrative depicts an aspiring artist's love for his cousin he marries and the dramatic triangle of love and destiny that forms between the newlyweds and the protagonist's unmarried sister, who is caught up in her quest to find the right man to marry.

Much like a fairy tale in its presentation, this story of Buddha as a young man explores the young prince Sidaharta's indulgent and self-possessed youth, his romance with a courtesan named Ambapali, and his marriage to Yasodara. Based on ancient Pali literary sources, this retelling of the Buddha legend depicts the events in Sidaharta's life that brought about the transformation of consciousness by which he was to formulate his later teachings as the Buddha.

Set against the last days of the British rule on the island of Sri Lanka, cousins Mano and Leela are bound together in an arranged marriage. Both are deeply distraught over this age-old tradition, yet still in an effort to please their families and not yet prepared to defy custom, Mano and Leela marry. Mano chronicles the events surrounding their wedding and their marriage, which play out in an up country village and at a nearby British run tea estate. The drama of their marriage intensifies amid the political chaos that surrounds the final days of the colonial rule.