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Ratings: ★★★★★ (5/5)
Genre: Travel Writing, Non-Fiction, Sri Lankan History & Culture, Memoir

Book Review:
W.T. Keble's ''Ceylon Beaten Track'' is a timeless gem of travel literature that transports readers to the heart of pre-modern Sri Lanka. Far from a dry itinerary, this book is a meandering, thoughtful, and deeply affectionate portrait of the island, written with a keen eye for detail and a storyteller's charm.
Keble's great strength is his ability to connect the present landscape with the echoes of the past. A crumbling dagoba isn't just a ruin; through his prose, it becomes a living monastery. His journeys along ''beaten tracks'' are filled with encounters—with villagers, colonial planters, Buddhist monks—and each interaction adds a layer to his understanding of Ceylon's complex social and historical fabric. The writing, as noted by critics in the 1940s, achieves a ''uniform excellence,'' making history feel like personal reminiscence.
While some references may feel dated, this is precisely part of the book's charm and value. It serves as a historical document of a specific moment in Ceylon's journey, capturing a pace and perspective lost to time. For modern travellers to Sri Lanka, historians, or simply lovers of elegant prose, ''Ceylon Beaten Track'' is more than a guide; it's an invitation to see the island through the eyes of a perceptive and eloquent wanderer. It fully deserves its status as a classic in the canon of Sri Lankan travel writing.