It is a magical-realistic novel about a young Belgian lawyer who has a Balinese mother. In Antwerp he meets the mysterious Ayu, a Balinese young woman who works as a hooker in the red light district. She convinces him to move to Bali.
The next chapter takes us back to the year 1906 on the island of Bali, where a love story develops against the background of the threat of the Dutch invasion of South Bali.
Lawyer Johan inherits the fortune from his parents. He hangs up his toga to retire on the island of Bali where his mother was born. How will his life be changed by what happened in Bali in 1906?
The love story in the year 1980 has its roots in another love story in the year 1906. The hooker Ayu is the connecting character between the years 1980 and 1906.
Who Ayu really is is only revealed on the last page of the book. The characters of 1980 and 1906 are connected by a mysterious sexual ear fetish.
The book also gives a nod to Fifty Shades of Gray by describing erotic scenes involving an ears fetish.