Kalimantaan - Hardcover

Godshalk, C.S.

  • 3.66 out of 5 stars
    376 ratings by Goodreads
 
9780385257541: Kalimantaan

Synopsis

A hundred and fifty years ago, a young Englishman founded a private raj on the coast of Borneo -- a jungle-covered land of headhunting Dyaks, mercurial Malays, and subversive overseas Chinese. The world he created, boasting stone quays, great swaths of lawn, three Christian churches, and musical levees, eventually encompassed a territory the size of England. Within this historical framework, C.S. Godshalk constructs an epic novel of vast imagination, beauty and drama. It is the story of Gideon Barr, the White Rajah, and his Ranee, two people whose perverse genius it was to miss every opportunity offered them to connect through love. In a world filled with pirates and adventurers, with headhunters, rogues, and religious madmen, Godshalk paints a vivid portrait of bravery and cowardice, and of a desire for order amid the curse of wildness.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author

C.S. Godshalk, who lives north of Boston, began Kalimantaan while working in southeast Asia. Her short fiction has been widely anthologized, her last two stories selected by Mark Helprin and Richard Ford for Best American Short Stories. Of one, Joseph Coates in the Chicago Tribune said, "a small Flaubertian masterpiece, alone worth the price of the book."

From the Inside Flap

A hundred and fifty years ago, a young Englishman founded a private raj on the coast of Borneo -- a jungle-covered land of headhunting Dyaks, mercurial Malays, and subversive overseas Chinese. The world he created, boasting stone quays, great swaths of lawn, three Christian churches, and musical levees, eventually encompassed a territory the size of England. Within this historical framework, C.S. Godshalk constructs an epic novel of vast imagination, beauty and drama. It is the story of Gideon Barr, the White Rajah, and his Ranee, two people whose perverse genius it was to miss every opportunity offered them to connect through love. In a world filled with pirates and adventurers, with headhunters, rogues, and religious madmen, Godshalk paints a vivid portrait of bravery and cowardice, and of a desire for order amid the curse of wildness.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title