Jim, the first mate aboard the Patna, dreams youthful dreams of heroism and of the daring act that will prove his courage. But when the ship collides with a mysterious obstacle, Jim panics and jumps free. This single act of cowardice drives him to self-enforced exile.

"Hailed as a Southeast Asian Gabriel Garcia Marquez for the exuberant beauty of his prose and the darkly comic surrealism of his stories, Eka Kurniawan is the first Indonesian writer to be nominated for a Man Booker Prize. Here is his first collection of short stories--Indonesian literature's characteristic form--to be translated into English. A man captures a caronang, a strange, intelligent dog that walks upright, and brings it home, only to provoke...

""After half a century," writes renowned Indonesia scholar Benedict Anderson, "Pramaoedya Ananta Toer has found a successor." Eka Kurniawan has been described as the "brightest meteorite" in Indonesia's new literary firmament, the author of two remarkable novels whose sheer beauty, elegance, cosmopolitanism, and ambition have brought comparisons not only to Pramaoedya, universally considered Indonesia's modern literary genius, but also to Salman Rushdie,...

When members of a United Nations joint security force are taken hostage by radical terrorists in Indonesia, Captain Ezekiel Fortunes is called to lead the rescue team. Part of a classified government experiment, Zeke is a supersoldier with enhanced abilities. He can see better and run faster than the enemy, disappear when necessary, and hunt along any terrain. There are those in the world willing to do anything for power like that. A formidable spy...

Ava begins an investigation into what she thinks is a Ponzi scheme. The trail leads her to a bank in Indonesia that is run by a Scot, but in actuality is a front for an elaborate money-laundering operation for Italian mobsters. The relationship between Ava and the Scotsman turns nasty and personal. Meanwhile, Uncle's health problems become apparent... -- from Amazon.

"Based on a true story, this gripping WWII novel captures the resilience, hope, and courage of a Dutch family who is separated during the war when the Japanese occupy the Dutch East Indies. Java Island, 1941. Six-year-old Rita Vischer cowers in her family's dug-out bomb shelter, listening to the sirens and waiting for a bomb to fall. Her charmed life on Java--living with other Dutch families--had always been peaceful, but when Holland declares war...