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Headhunt

by Jill Stuart

247 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #06-1282; ISBN 1-4120-9527-1; US$20.87, C$24.00, EUR17.14, £12.00

Exciting adventure in the rainforests of Borneo. An Iban longhouse plays host to a mysterious discovery. Witchdoctors, Iban warriors and headhunting add spice to this enthralling story.

About the Book

Why has Patrick Birch not been seen or heard of since he left England five years ago for South East Asia on a business trip?

This is a question to which his daughter, Kate, is determined to find the answer.

Kate decides she must journey to South East Asia and attempt to find her father for she is convinced he is still alive. The vast deep jungles of Borneo can be hostile, but Patrick Birch is no complete stranger to the region, for this is where he spent his early years.

The search begins in Kuching, the capital town of Sarawak, home of the "White Rajahs", where Kate contacts and meets several of her father's business associates, amongst whom is an intriguing Sarawakian Chinese business mogul who suggests, through the deviousness of his conversation, that mystery surrounds her ancestors.

Kate sets out into the rainforest with her small band of guides who are an interesting bunch of local characters, including a retired Scottish doctor who has practised tropical medicine in Sarawak for more than fifty years and is a fascinating raconteur.

Kate soon realises that the rainforest is as terrifying as it is magnificent, and not all as the tourist brochures describe, for many dangers are encountered.

En-route she discovers her adoptive grandmother. She also meets the love of her life. They become caught up in the whirl of the Gawai celebrations in an Iban longhouse where gruesome shrunken skulls are displayed proudly; souvenirs of their headhunting past.

In this world of jungle dwellers; where paganism runs in tandem with Christianity, several mysteries are solved, including the fate of Kate's father, the discovery of whom leads to the greatest surprise of the whole adventure.

About the Author

Jill Stuart was born in West Yorkshire, England, into a down-to-earth hard working business family. The written word has always held a fascination for her. From an early age she won school essay prizes and a number of her short stories and poems were published in the local newspaper. Together with a likeminded junior school friend they wrote their own local newspaper and distributed it around the immediate neighbourhood amid great amusement from the residents at some of the "news items".

Journalism seemed the natural choice for a career and she was offered a job as a junior reporter with the local newspaper. Her parents discouraged this because they considered it an unsuitable career for a girl; therefore her ambitions were steered towards the business world where she drifted into office work, studying shorthand and typing and secretarial skills.

Writing did not bubble to the surface again until years after her family had grown up and left home, and she met and married her second husband. Her life then took a completely different direction and became one of extensive travel to some unusual parts of the world in the course of her husband's work. During this time photography became a great passion, and her collection of photographs is impressive.

Ten years of living and working in Borneo, one of the most dramatic tropical environments in the world, amongst its colourful gentle people, inspired this first novel. Whilst writing and researching the book, travel articles were published in in-flight magazines, using her own photographs, together with small articles and stories for English provincial magazines.

Tales from the life of a long time Iban friend gave Jill Stuart the idea for this story; the rest is fiction.

Excerpts