The year is 1883. Eduard van De Lier is a Dutchman overseeing a spice plantation on the island of Java, in the South Pacific. His obsessive attraction to dark-skinned men is just one of his many secrets. His wife Marien knows of his indiscretions, but as she's content with their Colonial lifestyle, she stays silent. Until a former lover of Eduard's shows up in their parlor with thoughts of blackmail. Reza was a crewman on the ship that brought the van De Liers to Java. During the passage, Eduard spent many a night in the younger man's arms. Two years have passed, and the last person Eduard expects to find in his drawing room is Reza, a letter in hand that could destroy the life he and Marien lead. Seeing him again ignites Eduard's lust for his first dark lover. He hopes to retrieve the letter, either through seduction or subterfuge, and the longer Reza eludes him, the more his desire grows. But they're on shaky ground, and before things can heat up between them, their world explodes -- literally -- when the unstable island of Krakatoa erupts.

All Shook Up

Now every single time the phone rings, I’m going to hope it’s him. 6


By the time we reach the hospital, the sun has begun to set. Short, dark shadows line the main entrance, and even though yesterday was my first visit, a strange sense of déjà vudescends over me as I follow behind my brother through the sliding doors into the crowded lobby. The people scattered around the waiting area, the nurses and doctors bustling past—they could be the same people I saw the last time I was here. Nothing seems to have changed, no time has gone by. Here too I am stuck in the past. All of New Jersey could be nothing more than a figment of my memory.


Chapter 28