Myrna, a Caribbean environmentalist, meets Arno, a high-ranking Dutch civil servant, at the World Food Summit in the Netherlands, Arno suffers from debilitating insomnia, and Myrna has access to a traditional technique of sleep therapy that she has learnt from her grandmother. In return for the therapy, Arno offers to be her guide in her journey of discovery through the cities of Europe. The string of stories that Myrna narrates to Arno evokes her own journey towards adulthood. They also describe the political evolution of the Caribbean islands—from the struggle for freedom from Dutch colonists, to twentieth-century complexities of military coups, corruption and political intrigues. The ties that bind Myrna and Arno are deep and complex. They reflect the constant struggle of the colonized and the colonizer in the attempt to unravel their entangled roots both at the political as well as the individual levels. All his life Arno has been oblivious to the prejudices that the oppressive colonial past has ingrained into European society. The twists and turns that his life takes as the relationship progresses and events unfold shake him out of his stupor and compel him to come to terms with disturbing realities of the past.
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