Synopsis:

In a reprise of his appearance in Terence Clarke's The Day Nothing Happened, Dan Collins, now chief of the Agency for International Development in western Borneo, is a man caught in conflict between two cultures. On orders to retrieve a State Department employee from the upper reaches of the Baleh River, he discovers an enthralling world cloaked by the lush veil of the jungle.  Instead of bringing his colleague back, Collins retreats into the uncharted wilderness himself.

There he finds the longhouse of Rumah Nadai, where he learns the tribal Iban ways and how to live in union with a nature that is both life-giving and life-threatening. The arrival in the jungle of a British-run logging operation forces Collins to walk a terrifying line between the culture he has known all his life and the one that now feeds his soul.

Publishers Weekly said of The King of Rumah Nadai that it is "an evocative, appealingly written novel in which much is carefully observed." Library Journal said that it is "an episodic adventure marked by vivid depictions of the Borneo jungle and the indigenous Iban culture."

Book Excerpt:

Collins turned and descended once more into the clearing. In the discomfort of the heat, his heart began to swell inside him and to weigh down his chest. The Ibans stopped in the middle of the clearing, the fog surrounding them up to their waists.  The morning light was not yet strong enough to illuminate them entirely, and they stood in silence, silhouetted against the forest beyond. Collins felt there was little he could do to make contact with them. They simply watched him. He remained still, though for the moment he felt -- he hoped -- that they might still care for him, despite what he had done.  He could not bear leaving them.

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Topics/Categories:

Colonialism, Southeast Asia, U.S. State Department

Type of Work:

Novel

Publishers:

Mercury House

Purchase From:

Amazon.com

Original Publish Date:

October 1, 1994

Formats:

Hardcover

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