On the Java Ridge

The Java Ridge is a traditional-style Indonesian boat luxuriously fitted out for surfing tours. It is skippered by Isi Natoli, and her passengers are a mixed group of Australian surfers keen to track down the perfect wave. The Takalar is filled with fleeing refugees including Roya and her mother and Roya's unborn sister and it is having engine trouble. In Canberra, the Minister for Border Integrity, Cassius Calvert is facing a Federal election. He has just announced a hardline new policy which will stop maritime assistance to asylum-seeking vessels in distress. The storm closing in on the Takalar and the Java Ridge will mean catastrophe for them all. Written with heart-stopping tension, On the Java Ridge is Jock Serong's most confronting novel yet. It will fire renewed debate about where Australias refugee policies are taking us and challenge us to stop looking the other way.