The Question of Red

From award-winning Indonesian author Laksmi Pamuntjak comes a tale of profound love against the backdrop of myth, culture, and politics.

In this sweeping saga of love, loss, revolution, and the resilience of the human spirit, Amba must find the courage to forge her own path.

Amba was named after a tragic figure in Indonesian mythology, and she spends her lifetime trying to invent a story she can call her own. When she meets two suitors who fit perfectly into her namesake’s myth, Amba cannot help but feel that fate is teasing her. Salwa, respectful to a fault, pledges to honor and protect Amba, no matter what. Bhisma, a sophisticated, European-trained doctor, offers her sensual pleasures and a world of ideas. But military coups and religious disputes make 1960s Indonesia a place of uncertainty, and the chaos strengthens Amba’s pursuit of freedom. The more Amba does to claim her own story, the better she understands her inextricable bonds to history, myth, and love.

Revised edition: This edition of The Question of Red includes editorial revisions.

Laksmi Pamuntjak is one of Indonesia’s most versatile bilingual authors. She is a bilingual journalist and an award-winning food writer as well as a poet, translator, and novelist. The Question of Red, her bestselling first novel, was short-listed for the Khatulistiwa Literary Award, appeared on the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung’s Top 8 list of the best books of the Frankfurt Book Fair 2015, and was named #1 on Germany’s Weltempfaenger (Receivers of the World) list of the best works of fiction translated into German. Pamuntjak was selected as the Indonesian representative for Poetry Parnassus at the 2012 London Olympics. She works as an art and food consultant, writes opinion articles on culture and politics for the Guardian, and divides her time between Berlin and Jakarta.