AustLit

In 1950, English couple Louise and Michael arrive in French-occupied Indochina to cover a story on a rubber plantation. They stay as guests of the enigmatic plantation overseer Daniel and his beautiful yet difficult daughter Viola at their elegant, decaying villa amid a tropical jungle. Hoping that some time spent working in an exotic location will help reignite the passion in their floundering marriage, Michael and Louise instead find themselves unwittingly involved in the personal, sexual, and political tensions of their hosts. Daniel is desperate to hold onto a way of life no longer possible in a country struggling for independence, bringing him into conflict not only with his daughter but also with his adopted country.

'A spiritual allegory for children tells of the quest of the "Collectors" an unlikely group made up of a cynic, a coward, a criminal, and others, who search the world and themselves for the one thing that will save the planet.'  (Publication summary)