Synopsis: Kidnapped from Java, along with her older cousin, five year-old Mirah is taken to the Banda islands where she spends the rest of her life on a nutmeg plantation. She is first taken in as a servant by the Dutch estate owner, then works as a contract nutmeg picker and finally, when his wife leaves him, she is forced to become the man's concubine with whom she bears two children. Mirah lives out her life-through the Dutch colonial era, the Japanese Occupation, the Revolution and modern days-with no say in what befalls her. The fate of her daughter, Lili, taken away to be a "comfort...

As an airhostess with the new Indonesian Airlines, Elisa is determined to establish her independence and find a place where she really feels she belongs. With a troubled family background and almost no knowledge of her past or ancestry, Elisa is searching for her true identity. If finding her real father proves a heartbreaking search, then perhaps marriage to the handsome Javanese man she has fallen deeply in love, will give her the sense of belonging and stability for which she yearns. In this story, Elisa learns what it means to be a young woman finding her way in the troubled early years...

In a Gus tf Sakai story, nothing is as it seems. The unexpected is always happening. Supernatural events occur in ordinary settings, turning lives and realities on end. A three-hundred-year-old Torajan mummy refuses to stay dead. A painting takes on a life of its own and paints the painter. Gus tf Sakai's esoteric tales range across the myriad cultures of the Indonesian archipelago, crossing time and space. They lure the reader into their mystery and reveal the author's deep sense of humanity, leaving us deeply involved in the lives and predicaments of his characters.

Translated by...