Monkeys In The Dark: Blanche d'Alpuget

A novel by the widow of former Prime Minister Bob Hawke. Alexandra Wheatfield, a young journalist is sent to work in the Australian Embassy at Djarkarta as the coup of 1965 is crushed but Sukarno has not yet been overthrown. The Aussie diplomats view the scene with benign contempt and Security Chief Frank Hargreave's problem is finding the new sources of information and power in the crumbling, corrupt city. But for Alex, the city mirrors her new love affair with Marilu, poet and activist, with its colours, fruits, smiles and cruelities the counterpoint to their romance. She is caught between two cultures.