Round the Tea Totum: When Sri Lanka was Ceylon

I read this while traveling in Sri Lanka and it vividly evoked the just-passed era of British tea plantations, with present-day reminders all around me as we traveled around the island. It definitely whetted my appetite to visit the high-country locales where most of this book takes place, and made finally seeing some of the actual places described in the book a much richer experience.

I thoroughly recommend this book. Ebbels takes time to describe the life of a young man going to work in a tea plantation in Ceylon in the 1950's. The level of detail is high and anyone interested in the history of tea production, as well as this period of Sri Lanka's recent past will love the book. Ebbels also seems a wise fellow in his insights into human nature.

I bought this book as my father was a tea planter in Sri Lanka ( Ceylon ) for over 45 years. I grew up in Sri Lanka and left when I was 18 having worked with my father over the years and for a year after I left school. I know the area the author is talking about quite well although our estate was some distance away. It is a good read as far as learning about tea production is concerned but his protrayal of the local club doesn't ring quite true to me as our local club, some 40 miles away sounds much more friendly! I did play in the tennis tournaments in his area and found them to be fun and friendly.All in all if you want to learn about the life of a tea planter it is a good read.

A beautifully written biography about 1950s life on tea estates in Ceylon. David Ebbels lived in Ceylon at the same time as my father and my father says the book brought back so many memories. The author writes beautifully, being a very observant and down to earth character with a love for nature and wildlife. A rare and precious biography for anyone interested in the life of tea planters and British society just before Ceylon became Sri Lanka.

Perhaps the best way to learn about any job (other than doing it) is to read first-hand accounts from those who have done or are still at it. For anyone with any interest in tea production and the politics, lifestyles and economics that set it in it historical context I can highly recommend this book. I learned a great deal and was at the same time well entertained by the tales of a lifestyle long since gone (though as an expat living in a tea-producing region of Sri Lanka I can attest that not so much has changed in terms of tea cultivation and production and what change there has been is mostly regressive). At its best Ebbels's writing is fluent and there is none of the self-aggrandisement one associates with so many self-published memoirs. The book does get a little bogged down at times and could do with a good editor to keep up the pace.

arrived quickly and safely, thank you.

Thoroughly enjoyed.