On a South Pacific island during the last decades of the twentieth century, indigenes, migrant workers and European managers struggle to understand and define themselves and their place in the incomprehensible world shaped by the Van Island Palm Oil Development Company. A volatile and brutal state of affairs explodes as rape, murder and anarchy become the order of the day. Out of the chaos comes a yearning for comfort and leadership which manifests itself as a belief in Annu, the one who will save us. When he does appear, however, he is lynched by the foolish mob, as a scape-goat. The irresistible myth persists, nonetheless. Those who submit to its magic, and keep faith with it, find a way out of the traumatic condition, and are guided to a place where they may live in harmony, with themselves, with their brothers and their sisters and with nature. Nick Ashton-Jones presents a rich diversity of characters - indigenes and migrants, rich and poor, the sophisticated and the meek - with whom we can all identify. Love and hate occupy the same space in the mind but, though adversity and with a willingness to believe in Annu, love triumphs. Annu is our humanity.
A ripping and often humorous yarn but also a serious metaphor for spiritual survival in the modern world.