Kalimantaan

KALIMANTAAN - the old name for Borneo - is an epic novel about the founding of a small empire by an extraordinary man and a handful of his followers. It is also a beautifully written story about love surviving in the most hostile of circumstances. It is 1850 and a young Englishman, Gideon Barr, arrives in Borneo; within 10 years he has conquered an area the size of England and Wales, ruling through armies of tribal head-hunters. This is the story of Victorian social values superimposed on one of the most violent cultures on earth, of tenderness amid extreme brutality, and of a remarkable tribe of fugitives, missionaries, and romantics drawn to this remote outpost of the world. But the personal cost to Barr is enormous - he and his lovely wife, Amelia, lose three children to cholera and finally she has to return home to ensure the safety of their last surviving child. Full of fantastic descriptions of life in exotic conditions, this is a rare novel that immerses the reader in another, more wonderful world.