Hibiscus Mask
What does it take to show our true self to the one we love?
Kell is an American botanist working in Malaysia. He meets the engaging and alluring Nitti and is instantly smitten, but getting to know her is anything but straightforward. Open and childlike one moment, guarded and invulnerable the next, she ducks and vacillates, and keeps Kell guessing why.
Nitti’s mother lies paralyzed in a far corner of their home, tended by a sinister housekeeper who exerts a mystifying control over Nitti and her father. Still, Kell believes he’s found the woman of his dreams, and he perseveres. And Nitti seems to encourage him, leading him to a secret jungle sanctuary, then deeper, to the black waters of a swamp she calls “Keributan,” where a monstrous creature lurks . . .
With lushly drawn metaphor and unflinching candor and empathy, Hibiscus Mask offers a gripping psychological mystery about the preconditions for love and the tragic cost of hidden identity.
About Hibiscus Mask
Q: We all wear masks don’t we—depending on the occasion and the people we’re interacting with?
RS: We do, if we choose to call social adaptations “masks.” If we imagine that an individual’s relationships are plotted on a bull’s-eye target, you might say that with acquaintances or co-workers in the outer circles, some form of accommodation is usually necessary. I’ll be a little different with Person X than with Person Y. And we all deal with people who demand an infrequently used part of our personality. But I think the word “mask” has most utility when it applies to someone who is hiding their true identity from themself and the person or persons they are closest to. The self and our most intimate relationships are, if you will, at the target’s bull’s-eye.
Q: You’ve known people like that?
RS: I have. A few. I’m sympathetic to Nitti and Kell. For some of us, there are things about our natures and histories that we can’t overcome. There are things we can’t change. To a great degree, storytelling is empowerment. In most stories, we learn how the will can accomplish its desired ends. With tragedy, we get a negative example; we learn how a particular flaw or misstep can ruin everything. And one species of tragedy, I think, is the lesson that there are things we can’t change; things the will can’t overcome.
The Art
The Videos
Hibiscus Mask in the TooFar Media App
The multimedia version of Hibiscus Mask combines Rich’s novel with arresting visual art by Max Thill and enlightening videos.
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Acclaim for Hibiscus Mask
