Translated from the original Dutch by Agnes Louise Symmers and originally published by Alfred A. Knopf, this collection of letters was written by the daughter of a Javanese civil servant in the Dutch colonial government. She had been permitted the unusual privilege of attending a Dutch elementary school, but then returned home to seclusion during her adolescence, as was the Indonesian custom for women. The letters provide a fascinating picture of the life and spirit of the time during the period when Java was undergoing intimate contact with Western civilization. Through her writings she became a spokesman for the liberation and education of women, as well as an advocate for Indonesian nationalist aspirations. Co-published with the Asia Society.
