Holiday in Cambodia

Book excerpt: Contemporary fiction. Large Print. A powerful and impressive debut from one of Australia's most exciting young writers for fans of Alice Munro, Nam Le, Lorrie Moore and Jennifer Egan. Beyond the killing fields and the temples of Angkor Wat is Cambodia: a country with a genocidal past and a wide, open smile. A frontier land where anything is possible at least for Western expatriates. In these loosely linked stories, Laura Jean McKay takes us deep into this complex country, exploring the uneasy spaces where local and foreign lives meet. Three backpackers board a train, ignoring the danger signs and find themselves used as bargaining chips in a terrible game. A jaded expat, tired of real girls, falls in love with an ancient statue. As they explore the sweltering streets of Phnom Penh, two Australian tourists come face to face with the cracks in their marriage. There are devastating re-imaginings of the country's troubled history, as well as tender, funny moments of tentative understanding. These are bold and haunting stories, deftly told.