The Mountain

About the Book

‘A wonderful achievement. It is moving and panoramic. It takes us into the heart of our near neighbour Papua New Guinea in a way that’s never been done before, through the point of view of the founders of independence, their friends and lovers. At the same time, it’s a sweeping story of love and friendship, of hope and regret, and of the generational loyalties we inherit, as well as the ones we create for ourselves. The Mountain is a novel as intricate and powerful as the bark-cloth paintings at its heart’

ANNA FUNDER

‘It’s a joy to encounter a novel so dense with ideas … And to travel this journey with such a rich array of characters, each trying to find their own place within this unfolding political landscape, is a wonderful thing … The Mountain is an epic novel, sweeping in its reach and sumptuous in its realisation. It can only enhance Modjeska’s already formidable reputation’

CANBERRA TIMES

‘A rich and moving literary achievement … The Mountain is about many things – love, work, motherhood, loss, independence, art, seeing … The best kind of novel, one that entertains, educates and leaves the readers in no doubt about the skill of its author’

GOLD COAST BULLETIN

Contents

Cover

About the Book

Title Page

Prologue

Book One: 1968–73

Birds of the Sun

Our Ground

The Hearts of White-skinned Men

The Mountain

Hohola

Jiwu’s Curse

The Decisive Moment

Book Two: 2005–6

Hapkas

The Jericho Road

Ancestor Gift

The Face of the Day

The Massy Green

Epilogue

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Also by Drusilla Modjeska

Praise for The Mountain

Copyright Notice

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PROLOGUE

LUNCH WITH JERICHO, 2005

FROM HIS TABLE ON THE TERRACE OF THE MUSEUM, JERICHO SEES Martha coming through the crowds on the Quay. She’s walking fast and takes off her dark glasses to scan the tables. Her hair is short, well cut. The odd thing is that she looks like Rika. Rika’s clothes are more expensive, of course, but Martha has the same style and form. Well, there was a time when they were friends. Like sisters, Leonard said. For thirty years they haven’t spoken, and still they look the same.

Martha spots him at a table towards the end of the terrace, and waves. He’s chosen a good position, under a heater, with a view across the water to the Opera House. It’s June, the beginning of winter in Sydney, and out of the sun the air is chill.

‘How good you look,’ Martha says as they embrace, and Jericho sees the pleasure in her face. When he first came down from the mountain to Rika, barely five years old, she was the other mother. Rika and Martha. They were younger then than he is now, and he thinks again of how it must have been for them, in a country that wasn’t theirs, suddenly presented with a small child to raise.