Barefoot Guerrillas

An awakening...two occupied homelands...a young woman's personal growth. Melati's journey took her from a cloistered Swiss boarding school to the guerrilla camps of a scorched earth. Her own personal growth from a naive school girl to an independent young woman closely parallels the struggle for independence of her reclaimed homeland. Harumi Wanasita tells the story of one woman. She also tells the story of a generation. The Dutch-Indonesian descent people at the time of Indonesia's declaration of independence were the last generation of their culture. This is their story. Reflecting the maturing of her character, Harumi varies her writing style as Melati develops. Naive at first for Melati's wide-eyed innocence, the style is gradually refined as the novel moves through wartime Holland and Melati's life with the guerrilla fighters in revolutionary Indonesia. Through all the experiences which make Melati's story, Harumi retains a language and style reminiscent of an earlier simpler time, when innocence was its own reward.