Dancers on the Sea

This story tells of a woman’s life on Atauro Island, learning its history and culture as she worked with the community to improve living conditions through education. The memoir shares the stories of some of the people with whom she lived in a time of great change…
During the period of East Timor’s occupation by an Indonesian military regime which was challenged by a fierce resistance movement, Gabrielle – an Australian woman working at an Indonesian university – was asked by a Timorese village leader to help establish a kindergarten for his community.

Supported by the university, Gabrielle agreed to spend six months on the remote and poor island of Atauro, to live in the community as the only Westerner in its harsh and often cruel conditions.

It doesn’t take long for Gabrielle to fall in love with the island, its people and an Indonesian co-worker, resulting in the following twelve years of her life being spent living on the island.

Dancers on the Sea is Gabrielle’s experience through six of those years as the little country of East Timor struggled for, and achieved, its independence and became Timor-Leste.

“A moving and insightful book of reality and compassion…beautifully told and deeply shared…” Lisa, Readalot Reviewer