“What sort of idiot takes a job after a five-minute phone interview, in a country he knows nothing much about and on the other side of the world, in a school he’s never heard of?” says the disaffected Newbie – the name his fellow teachers have given him – who ran from his past in England and from the memories of his dead girlfriend, Laura. Indonesia is as good a place as any to reinvent himself — cheap beer, exotic landscapes, a beautiful Indonesian girlfriend, and a bunch of misfit mates all masquerading as English teachers. But Laura won’t leave him alone — her ghost haunts him, her voice fills his head, her gaze follows him everywhere. It will take a breakdown and an exorcism at the hands of an Indonesian shaman to make Newbie realize that the events of the past might not always be what they seem.

Translating to "just taking a walk" in Indonesian, jalan jalan is an expression one of our cover cooks, who previously lived in Bali, was well acquainted with. The design uses the iconic footwear so prevalent among locals and expats as a visual summary of Newbie’s quest for emotional detachment and to block out the pain of the past. One of the umpteen large bottles of Bintang beer, downed by the troupe of teachers on Friday nights, completes the Indonesian setting of the novel.