Thamizhini joined the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at the age of nineteen and spent eighteen years as a combatant, educator and, for some time, head of the women’s division of its Political Wing. Her memoir, In the Shadow of a Sword, weaves back and forth between reminiscences of her childhood experiences of state violence and her decision to join the LTTE. It recounts the many projects she undertook for the civilian population; her participation in the Peace Talks of 2002; the freedoms granted and constraints placed upon her during the armed struggle; and her experiences in combat training, on the battlefield, and in political negotiations and diplomacy. It is a narrative weighted with grief and remorse yet glistening with moments of humour and thick with compassion. The memoir contains wry observations on gender roles and media manipulation in times of war and is a valuable archive that rescues female combatants from oblivion. Contents: Foreword: Writing Life, Writing War by R. Cheran Translator’s Preface: The Woman Who Refused to Die Acknowledgement Introduction The Road Opened I Was Born into War The Political Cadre Undergoes Combat Training The Tamil People and the Armed Conflict The Female Fighter and an Unchanged Society Memories of the Eastern Soil A False Peace and Disrupted Civilian Life We Lay Down Our Arms Surrender and the Prison Cell Rehabilitation Glossary