Yosha Gunasekera: The Midnight Taxi
Debut
This is a sparkling debut. The main character, Siriwathi Perera, is a New York City cab driver in the age of Uber and Lyft. It’s a tough job but she works the late shift to keep her family afloat. As she’s cruising by night court late one night, she spots two possible fares: a white, male lawyer and a woman who looks more like herself, obviously on her way home. She picks up the woman and the two of them bond as they discover they are both Sri Lankan. The woman, Amaya, is a public defender, and the quick bond the two women form is enough that Amaya presses her business card in Siri’s hand before she gets out of the cab. Little does Siri know how much she will need it.