Ocean Roads

Book excerpt: Sweeping from New Mexico's desert to Auckland's wild west coast beaches, from the bloodied jungles of Vietnam to the dry valleys of Antarctica, Ocean Roads warms us with desert sun, fills our lungs with salt air, drenches us with jungle rain and chills us with glacial ice. This novell tells the powerful, unnerving story of three generations of a family that has been scarred by war, the horror of the first nuclear detonations, of Nagasaki, of Vietnam. When the formal hostilities end, war carries on in the bodies and hearts and minds of the former combatants, and it provides a bitter legacy. But love grows out of the detritus of conflict, and with love comes and understanding of human limitations, frailty, and the possibilities of trust. Shortlisted for the 2007 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best Book in the South East Asia and South Pacific region