Maya

Maya, a thirty-something Indonesian caught in the undercurrent of life's uncertainty, takes a leap of faith from the chaos of Jakarta to a job as a waitress aboard a European cruise ship. There, she meets sexy Kanompang, Oleksii with his European-sized totem, and Maroje, her first love and Croatian prince. In a world where relationships are as transient as the ports she visits, Maya grapples with lies, love and unfulfilled desires. But when her voyage of discovery takes a darker turn in the backstreets of London, where betrayal and misery are a familiar fate for migrant workers, Maya must navigate unscrupulous women, naked men, challenging relationships and the pull of home. Set in cruise ship cabins, East London pubs and West End brothels, this tragicomedy is a tale of survival, a search for identity, and the hope of finding a harbour in life's stormy sea.

Nuril Basri is an Indonesian writer born in West Java. His novel Le rat d'egout won the Grand prize for best gay novel in translation in France in 2023. He has worked in a variety of positions over the years: internet cafe operator, secretary to a police attache, mystery shopper, mini-market cashier, and waiter on a cruise ship. His previously published works include Not a Virgin and Love, Lies and Indomee.