Synopsis The beautiful island of Sri Lanka, located to the Southeast of India, is a fractured country today. The communal holocaust of July 1983 and the intensification of ethnic conflict have resulted in large-scale internal displacement of people and movement of refugees from Sri Lanka to different parts of the world. The State of Tamil Nadu in India, separated from Sri Lanka by the narrow and shallow Palk Straits, is a haven for Sri Lankan Tamils. Between Fear and Hope contains a series of inter-related chapters on the global refugee phenomenon and the Indian experience, on how Sri Lanka was transformed into an "Island of Refugees" and the causes and consequences of the Sri Lankan Tamil presence in India. These fase-changing events are analysed against the backdrop of the twists and turns in India's Sri Lanka policy. The authors highlight the necessity for the enactment of a refugee law, which reflects humanitarian concerns about the refugees as well as the security interests of the Indian State.