Plastic Emotions by Shiromi Pinto

‘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 inspired by the life of Minette de Silva—a forgotten feminist icon and one of the most important figures of twentieth-century architecture. In a gripping and lyrical story, Shiromi Pinto paints a complex picture of de Silva, charting her affair with the infamous Swiss modernist Le Corbusier and her efforts to build an independent Sri Lanka that slowly heads towards political and social turmoil.

Moving between London, Chandigarh, Colombo, Paris, and Kandy, Plastic Emotions explores the life of a young, trailblazing South Asian woman at a time of great turbulence across the globe.

‘Lyrical and revelatory, speaking to our times with a beautifully calibrated urgency.’ 

Neel Mukherjee

‘An absorbing story of love and art’.

Romesh Gunasekara

Title: Plastic Emotions
 Author: Shiromi Pinto
 Publisher: Penguin Viking
 Available: Amazon