Some novels excite us by offering a

penetrating vision of our everyday life.

Others, more rare, caativate us in the

opposite way--they take us to new

worlds and open our eyes to ways of

life we have scarcely conceived of.

Palu is one of these books.

It is the story of a woman whose life is

touched with a dark magic. Palu is born

into a remote hill tribe on a large Pacific

island. She is just a child when, breaking

the tribal taboo, she enters the sairit hut

and meets the alligator demon. But the

consequences of her acl. violent and

tragic, will follow her always. Her ove

affair with Emo, a brilliant youth born to

lead his people, brings her to Australia,

and then back to her homeland as it

struggles for national independence.

But when Emo--frustrated by the

struggle to bring Western democracy to

his tribal culture--begins ro change

from leader to despot, the egends that

cling to Palu make her his enemy. She is

fated to meet the demons again.

This is a remarkable novel, strange

and intoxicating, t captures, as no

journalistic effort could, the feeling of a

land where modern politics confronts

ancient gods.