It’s Ceylon in 1906, and Stella Polegate steps off the ship in Colombo harbour, her heart beating with contradictory emotions.
As her father’s unofficial research assistant, she’s thrilled to explore this island of ancient temples and verdant tea plantations — yet painfully aware that her brilliant mind will remain uncredited, her academic ambitions dismissed simply because she is a woman.
When her father’s doctoral student makes unwelcome advances that escalate to violence, Stella’s carefully ordered world shatters.
With her reputation and future hanging in the balance, she finds an unexpected ally in Norton Baxter, a principled young civil servant whose growing disillusionment with colonial rule mirrors her own questioning of societal constraints.
As Stella navigates the suffocating expectations of colonial society, she must make an impossible choice. Should she accept the limitations imposed upon her sex or fight for the academic future she deserves?
And can she trust Norton with her damaged heart when every man in her life has sought to control her destiny?
From the misty highlands of Kandy to the bustling port of Colombo, Stella’s journey becomes a defiant quest not only for love but for something far more elusive: the freedom to become the author of her own story.
The Star of Ceylon by Clare Flynn is published on 9 June, 2025.
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