The coup and counter-coup of 1965 led to the deaths of up to one million Indonesians, mostly members or suspected members of the Communist Party, the PKI. The violence included neighbour-on-neighbour killings at a time of great poverty and hardship but much of it was orchestrated by the military and aided by the provision of lists of names by the CIA, then engaged in a Cold War battle to prevent the spread of Communism throughout South East Asia. The existence of these lists is a matter of public record but the character of Harper and his role in the handover of one of them are both my invention, as is the institution he works for.
Private companies working as risk analysts or consultants for multinational corporations and governments have existed for decades and many are active worldwide today. Staff in London and Jakarta working for a long-established firm in this field gave me invaluable help with my research on the condition of anonymity for themselves and their employer. I’m very grateful for the insights they offered into a business that relies on discretion. There is no suggestion their activities are comparable with any of the events in this novel.
Heartfelt thanks as ever to my agent, Antony Harwood; to Sarah Savitt, to Hannah Griffiths and Lisa Baker of Faber & Faber UK and Sarah Crichton of Sarah Crichton Books/Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York.
About the author
Black Water is Louise Doughty’s eighth novel. Her most recent book was the bestseller Apple Tree Yard, which sold in twentysix countries, was shortlisted for the CWA Steel Dagger and the National Book Awards Thriller of the Year and was a Richard & Judy book club choice. A major four-part BBC1 adaptation is due for broadcast in 2016. Her sixth book, Whatever You Love, was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award and longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction. She lives in London.
By the same author
fiction
Crazy Paving
Dance with Me
Honeydew
Fires in the Dark
Stone Cradle
Whatever You Love
Apple Tree Yard
non-fiction
A Novel in a Year
Copyright
First published in the UK in 2016 by
Faber & Faber Limited
Bloomsbury House
74–77 Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3DA
This ebook edition first published in 2016
Copyright © Louise Doughty, 2016
Cover design by Faber
Cover image © Umberto Shtanzman / Shutterstock
The right of Louise Doughty to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly
ISBN 978–0–571–27868–8
Black Water Page 31