The Naked Island

By Bryna Wasserman

In 1787, on the morning of the new moon in July, the Dutch in Java murdered the Indonesian priest Qadar. One hundred years later, the Armenian Sarkies brothers opened the Raffles Hotel in Singapore; a farmhouse was built on Evans Point at the shore of Lake Erie; and in Java, Zulkanyan, a descendent of the slain priest Qadar, suddenly died when a curse he had set against his neighbours turned against him. His soul was set to wander in search of revenge. So begins the mythic tale of Rachel Lynn Gold, a young Jewish woman in small-town Ontario, who, betrayed by her lover and older sister, sets out on an odyssey to India, Nepal, Singapore and Australia in search of her lost self. Far from home and armed with nothing but a broken heart and a restless soul, Rachel is left open and vulnerable to the ghosts that haunt her. It is in Singapore that she meets the unlikely love of her life, Kifli Talib, a Malaysian Muslim, who, unbeknownst to her, is possessed by the dark spirit Zulkanyan. But the Jewish woman-child from Dunnville, Ontario, and the Muslim man-boy from Singapore fall into a forbidden affair, an intense love that both protects and threatens her with complete annihilation. A haunting story of love and betrayal, danger and survival, The Naked Island is a powerful first novel, a lyrical and poetic work that delves into the shifting nature of identity and the hypnotic pull of good and evil.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1552636380
• ISBN13: 9781552636381
• Release Date: August 2004
• Publisher: Key Porter Books
• Length: 239 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.1" x 0.7" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

intriguing and beautiful

perhaps the best thing about this novel is the wonderful and beautiful writing style of the author. of course the plot is quite spectacular as well. it's starts with a young woman, betrayed by her lover and her sister, who decides to travel. maybe she thinks travel will cure her lovesickness but the farther she goes from home the more lost she becomes -- through europe, into india and nepal and to singapore where she meets the malay porter. then a forbidden love affair between a jew and a muslim and the introduction of spirits and gurus and death plans. It's intriguing and so beautifully written that you will stay up late to finish the story. enjoy!

poetic, strange, kaballistic & beautiful

This book fascinated me. It takes the reader from a farm in Ontario, Canada to India, Nepal, Singapore and Australia, but the real voyage here is within the world of heart and soul. The writing is distilled and poetic, and the author's voice is strong and original. Wasserman has managed to write about spirits in a way that is believable and not at all hokey -- a major achievement. I believe she is drawing on Kaballah at times, and the story's heart is the love story between Jewish Canadian Rachel Gold and Muslim Malay Kifli Talib. These two are connected by two spirits but also by their physical connection, made at exotic Raffles Hotel in Singapore. The romance of these hotel scenes is perfect -- sensual, passionate, with the edge of fear that is always present when two people lose themselves in one another. And beneath all of that, the menace of the demon who possesses Kifli and threatens Rachel. You won't be able to put down this book.