Geckos and Moths

Book excerpt: It is 1966 in Port Moresby, a town of extremes, at once constricted and libertine, the tension between the black and white communities barelycontained. Tension of another kind exists in the marriage of Virginia Rich and her husband Ted, a well-liked local businessman. A lack of real communicationbetween them hides from both Virginia and Ted the full extent of the collapse their marriage has been in for some time. Over a single weekend, shocking events force the Riches to confront reality. The reality of theirmarried life together. The reality of a place where the white man believes himself to be the undisputed master. The lives of Ted and Virginia Rich of Port Moresby will never be the same again.