Alexandra Wheatfield, a young journalist, has come to work in the Australian Embassy in Djakarta at a time of chaotic change: the coup of 1965 has been crushed, but the Indonesian Army has not yet overthrown the revered President Sukarno.Sukarno has warned that without him the people will bring anarchy upon themselves, like 'monkeys in the dark'. The privileged Australian diplomats view this scene with benign contempt. The problem of security officer Frank Greaves and his prot g , Anthony Sinclair, is to find new sources of ...
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Alexandra Wheatfield, a young journalist, has come to work in the Australian Embassy in Djakarta at a time of chaotic change: the coup of 1965 has been crushed, but the Indonesian Army has not yet overthrown the revered President Sukarno.Sukarno has warned that without him the people will bring anarchy upon themselves, like 'monkeys in the dark'. The privileged Australian diplomats view this scene with benign contempt. The problem of security officer Frank Greaves and his prot g , Anthony Sinclair, is to find new sources of information and power in the crumbling and corrupt city.But Alex sets her mind to a different task, attracting the affections of Maruli Hutabarat, an Indonesian poet who is in hiding for publicly supporting Sukarno's regime. Sexual tensions blaze, and Alex believes that she might have come to understand the deeply sensual but cruel city.However, neither her love nor her wit can protect Alex against the demands of two conflicting societies. How deep a betrayal might people be willing to perform in the name of politics, and how brutal a sacrifice might one have to make in the name of 'security'?
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Add this copy of Monkeys in the Dark to cart. $34.00, very good condition, Sold by ZENO'S rated 3.0 out of 5 stars, ships from San Francisco, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1980 by Bodley Head Children's Books.
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Seller's Description:
Sydney. 1980. Aurora Press. 1st Australian Edition. Very Good in Dustjacket. 0867480017. 176 pages. hardcover. Cover illustration is a detail from ‘The Jetty' by Donald Friend. keywords: Literature Australia Women. FROM THE PUBLISHER-Alexandra Wheatfield, a young journalist, has come to work in the Australian embassy in Djarkarta at a time of chaotic change: the coup of 1965 has been crushed but the new Order of the Indonesian Army has not yet overthrown the revered President, Sukarno. He has warned that without him the people are 'monkeys in the dark. ' As a privileged group the Australian diplomats view this scene with benign contempt. The problem of Frank Greaves of Security and his protEgEe, Anthony Sinclaire, is to find the new sources of information and power in the crumbling and corrupt city. But for Alex the city mirrors her affair with Maruli Hutabarat, poet and party activist, its colours, fruits, smiles and cruelties counterpoint the sensuality of their relationship. Her love is no protection against the demands of the two conflicting societies-she is used and betrayed, first by her lover, then by the brutal demands of ‘Security. ' The sexual tensions and personal betrayals of this richly perceptive novel mirror wider betrayals in the two different societies until the role of ‘monkeys in the dark' is grimly reversed. inventory #630.
