Overview

'I began to lose my innocence, very quietly, one morning when I met Nicole Marchand near the post office. By chance, that was also the day the articles began...' Cambodia, 1966 - before the Khmer Rouge. A haven of peace in a war-torn Asia, Prince Norodom Sihanouk, the country's flamboyant leader, cries out as the Vietnam War next door threatened to engulf the entire region. To young French-Australian journalist Philippe Roche, newly arrived in Phnom Penh to kick off his career, life seems to be full of promise: his first job, his first taste of freedom and adventure after the constraints of 1960s Australia, a warm, welcoming, permissive ambience. But even as he falls under the spell of this exotic land, enjoying the last of its golden years before it too is drawn into the maelstrom, dangers lurk beneath the surface. Plunging into a secret affair with a captivating older woman, before long he is forced to confront his own contradictions and choose between conflicting loyalties as dark undercurrents of international politics threaten to tear his life apart and he comes close to death. What sacrifices will he have to make to be true to his word and protect the woman he loves and the memory of the man who saves his life?

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9780648780809

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Reviews

A novel which combines a passionate love strory, a breathless spy story and a fantastic description of Cambodia in the mid sixties with the Vietnam war at the border and before the Khmer Rouge nightmare. I highly recommend (P Malavieille) From region to region, Renaud's cinematic descriptions of countryside and city are breathtaking, while his skill in painting multiple international characters and their interconnected foibles (some repulsive, most endearing) will make you think you were there among them. Every page crackles with vivid clarity, detail and focus, and journeys deeper through very human secrets with a down-to-earth awareness that sees its own failings as it sees others'. All in all, Reluctant Betrayals is a simultaneous quest for love and true friendship and a living, breathing portrait of a gorgeous natural and social landscape, all of it under the increasing shadow of ruthless colonial powers. This is a multisided book that will leave you, like Philippe, aching with grateful memory of a world beyond rich with beauty, humanity and potentials barely glimpsed before the bombs of progress began to fall. (Dr Jack dempsey)

Author Information

French-born but educated mostly in Australia, the author worked for many years with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and served in Cambodia in the mid nineteen sixties. He is now retired and lives in Melbourne.

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