Books by Dewi Anggraeni

Stories of Indian Pacific are three novellas, set in New Caledonia, Australia and Indonesia, written in Dewi Anggraeni''s engaging style that moves easily from one location to the next. ''To Drown a Cat'' explores racial tension in New Caledonia; Uncertain Step is the story of an Indonesian bride in Australia; and in Crossroads two artists, an Australian and an Indonesian, meet in Bali. The novella is set in 1988, shortly after the violent confrontation between the French army and Kanak separists in the northern island of Ouvea. The story explores the tensions that explode in bloody confrontation, within a family divided by allegiance to two sets of ancestors, the French Caldoche and the indigenous Kanak. ''Uncertain Step'' tells the story of Aryani, and her relatively late marriage to Steve, an Australian teacher who already has two children, and is still good friends with his previous wife. Aryani finds the Australian scenery, Steve''s hometown, Adelaide and people''s response to herself very different from everything she is used to in Bandung. Her uncertain step into marriage with this warm but almost unknown Australian is the story of so many Asian brides and their Australian husbands. In ''Crossroads'', the young Australian rock singer, Justin is introduced to a new world of art and life, when he meets the Balinese poet and playwright, Nyoman. Justin sees for the first time, art as close to nature and art as important for political and social change.

This is the story of a unique family, centred on Amyrra, one of twin sisters. Amyrra''s story is set mainly in modern Australia but also in ancient Java. Her life parallels the life of a queen, Ken Dedes, in the Golden Age of a Javanese kingdom. Amyrra seeks refuge in a personal God to free herself from her fate to love and suffer again, as she believes she had so many centuries earlier. The story opens with the adult sisters attending a wedding in suburban Camberwell, then quickly flashes back to childhood in Singapore. They were born in Singapore, where their Javanese father, Hardoyo, a poet and their French mother, Claudine, an artist, lived for ten years. Moving to Indonesia when the girls were just teen-age, the family is shocked when a village seer tells Amyrra that she is the present incarnation of the twelfth century Javanese queen, Ken Dedes, and that she will meet the present incarnation of the queen''s lover, Ken Arok, and they will resume their love affair. During the Golden Age of the Majapahit kingdom, Ken Dedes married her lover, Ken Arok, after he had killed her husband, the king. Their relationship ended unhappily and their descendants have fought and killed each other for generations after. Despite her obsession to avoid meeting her fated lover, Amyrra finally meets Sean Devlin, who she feels she has known for a long time. From then on, her life parallels the life of Ken Dedes, as she is swept toward the horrifying end.

The news of her sick father beckons Komala to return to Jakarta, leaving her husband and children behind in Melbourne, now her home city. But the Jakarta she left nine years earlier has changed. The city has changed and the society is disturbingly foreign to her. Or has she changed? Komala''s is a poignant homecoming to a troubled land. Komala''s return even to her family home is difficult, with live-in boarders and her hostile sister in law disturbing her smooth transition back to the place of her childhood. Through one of her mother''s boarders, Komala learns of a vicious attack on a night-club hostess, an acid attack which leaves the young woman blinded and horribly scarred. In her attempt to win some justice and compensation for the victim, Komala becomes aware of a wider world of corruption and exploitation, particularly of women. This exploitation is made worse by the lack of solidarity among the women in Jakarta. The society is still one where man are supreme, and the women acquiesce in this, allowing themselves to be dependent on a husband or lover, thereby allowing men to retain control. This is a novel as relevant today as when first released. The path for women''s liberation in many South East Asian countries still hinges very much on how women themselves view the woman who dares to declare her independence in the male-dominated society.

Set in Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia, Snake is the first novel that Dewi Anggraeni has written about the Chinese descent communities in Southeast Asia. Their stories, woven into the tapestry of the mainstream Malay societies of Malaysia and Indonesia, have not only contributed to the respective society and national culture. They have also moulded the Southeast Asian overseas Chinese into a fascinating society in their own right. In common with Dewi''s earlier novels, Snake presents us with an intangible, even mysterious, part of Southeast Asian life. While effective curses, and the power inanimate objects can have over people -- power for good or power for evil -- are generally considered in Australia to be fantasy, they are very much a part of life in Southeast Asia. In ''Snake'', a brooch worn as a clasp for the traditional blouse, the kebaya, has power over its owner. Featuring Serena, a choreographer and lead dancer, this is the story of a family split by honour and pride, a family under the curse of a beautiful brooch. The brooch, named peniti ronce by its first owner, initially fascinates, and then destroys, its owner.

On 12 October 2002, Bali seemed to crumble overnight, when hundreds of tourists and locals who were enjoying themselves became victims of two horrific bomb blasts. The bombs took the lives of 202 people -- 88 of whom were Australians, and severely injured many more. The Bali bombing brought Australians closer to the terror which has dominated world headlines for over a year. This book presents a comprehensive summary of the event, the investigation and the main perpetrators. Dewi''s work as an Indonesian journalist in Australia puts her in a unique position to observe and understand how the tragedy of the Bali bombing has played out in Australia, Bali and elsewhere in Indonesia. Indonesians and foreign observers alike have been pondering whether ''Indonesian Islam'' remains as moderate, liberal and tolerant as many had believed. Part of this book is about Dewi''s own journey through this pondering. Includes: Map of Eastern Indonesia; Plan of Kuta, showing Sari Club and Paddy''s Bar; four colour plates of Kuta and the main perpetrators of the bombing.