Plastic Emotions is a novel based on the true life story of Minnette de Silva - forgotten feminist icon and the first female Sri Lankan architect. Pinto paints a complex picture of de Silva, charting her affair with Swiss modernist Le Corbusier and her efforts to build a post-independent Sri Lanka heading for political and religious turmoil.
"We architects must be idealists. We construct not just individual buildings, but whole cities. We plan cities, and in doing so, change lives."Plastic Emotions is a novel based on the true life story of Minnette de Silva -forgotten feminist icon and the first female Sri Lankan architect. In a gripping, elegant and lyrical story, Shiromi Pinto paints a complex picture of de Silva, charting her affair with infamous Swiss modernist Le Corbusier and her efforts to build a post-independence Sri Lanka that is heading towards political and religious turmoil.Moving between London, Chandigarh, Colombo, Paris and Kandy, at a time of communal violence in Sri Lanka, the rise of the civil war, and troubles with building a brand new city in north India, Plastic Emotions explores the life of a young, trailblazing south Asian woman at a time of great political turbulence across the globe.