The first sentence of every novel should be: Trust me, this will take time but there is order here, very faint, very human. Meander if you want to get to town.
– Michael Ondaatje
That's Anil's path. She grows up in Sri Lanka, goes and gets educated abroad, and through fate or chance gets brought back by the Human Rights Commission to investigate war crimes.
– Michael Ondaatje
In the book the relationship with Katharine and Almasy is sort of only in the patient's mind.