The Book Cove

Handsome, clever, if not yet rich, Philip Clarke finds himself drawn by the cool beauty of Mei Li, lawyer and colleague, yet at the same time is unable to relinquish his weekly visit to the near-by shanty-town and the waiting arms of the fishing village woman who offers exquisite and unexpected pleasure. His simple ambition is to continue to enjoy the heady gratifications of both, without undue self-reflection. But paradise comes at a cost. And, just as the stories of love and the fulfillment of desire he tells himself become complicated, the tranquility of his island home is, he slowly understands, anything but immune to the world beyond its borders. The book set in present day Asia, but its reach is much wider than that. The double context of the book is the newly assertive China on the global stage, and the environmental catastrophe that is engulfing the region. The story is premised on a deal to sell bottled water to China from Australia; the central character is a member of th...