Outskirts Press, INC.

A MARRIAGE ENDS TO PRESERVE A LOVE, AN INFANT CRUSHES A PROUD SPIRIT, AND PERFECTIONISM LEADS TO A CHILLING CONCLUSION.

For the wives of American oil industry workers living in the insulated opulence of Jakarta’s Hotel Borobudur in 1976, the problems are many; and for the Indonesians who get to know them, the puzzlements are life-altering. In the hot house of culture shock, fears and conflicts, good and evil can change lives in unexpected ways. Just as the shadow plays of Indonesia reveal new facets of old stories in each performance, so too the characters in this rich collection of interrelated stories discover new strengths and old weaknesses.



PRAISE FOR LADIES OF THE BOROBUDUR



“Barbara Haines Howett writes with the passion and grace of one who has traveled deep into other realms of perception and brought back a precious gift--her cycle of stories, Ladies of the Borobudur. It is a realm fraught with mystery and wonder. I was amazed and enthralled by the range of emotion.”

—Don Williams, Editor and publisher of New Millennium Writings



“A dazzling mosaic of interwoven stories that reflects a now-vanished world. The reader will remember these haunting women and their tales long after the lights go on and the shadows return to the dark.”

—Ruth Knafo Setton, author of The Road to Fez



“Howett explores and evokes astonishingly different points of view, and her post-colonial sense of irony is bracing.”

—DeWitt Henry, author of The Marriage of Anna Maye Potts

The thick hot breath of Indonesia suffocated Lisa the moment she walked off the jet into the Jakarta night. She shifted the carryon bag to her other shoulder, blew a strand of hair from her eyes, and tried to keep up with David's lope across the tarmac. After all, she'd come because she loved him too much to deny him what he wanted so badly, but she wasn't giving up any more of her independence. She'd be her own woman here no matter what.