Originally published in 1980, this is Dirk Bogarde’s first novel.
In the uneasy aftermath of WWII, a group of ordinary British soldiers and their families find themselves stationed as peacekeepers at an outpost in the Java Sea. Whilst attempting to return the island to Dutch control, they are subject to violent attacks by the locals who want their freedom.
As the Empire crumbles, the island is plunged into chaos and violence amidst a nationalist uprising. Selfishness, sex, greed, fear and revenge, all play their part; though so too do the finer instincts of love, loyalty and concern. At times gloriously funny, never sitting in judgement, Dirk Bogarde portrays mankind’s fallible, complex humanity as the thin skin of conventional behaviour, tautened in the corrosive atmosphere of Southeast Asia, gradually begins to split.
- ISBN10 1448206847
- ISBN13 9781448206841
- Publish Date 25 April 2013 (first published March 1980)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
- Imprint Bloomsbury Reader
- Format Paperback (UK Trade)
- Pages 470
- Language English