Fearless by Fiona Higgins: Strangers in Bali's complex paradise

One of the characters in Fiona Higgins' new book says rather tartly, "I think a fair few Aussies consider it the ninth state of Australia." She is referring, of course, to Bali, the setting for Fearless. As in her previous novel, Higgins has assembled six strangers (one of them, Cara, also appeared in The Mothers' Group) and placed them not in Sydney this time, but in the steamy tropical island, a location many Australians treat as their own personal playground.

Her protagonists are there not to frolic, but to attend a workshop to confront and overcome their particular phobias (which include fear of flying, heights, public speaking and intimacy). Under the guidance of various earnest therapists, Australians Janelle and Cara, American Annie, Englishman Henry, French Remy and Italian Lorenzo undertake all sorts of scary and confronting classes including parasailing, Balinese vagina spa, and tooth-filing ceremonies.

The guests make tentative friendships with one another and a pair even fall in love, but about two-thirds of the way through the book, a catastrophic event occurs that really tests their mettle, an incident that none of their fearless training had adequately prepared them for. Instinct, adrenalin and a dash of innate bravery remain their only recourse.

Higgins, who is fluent in Indonesian, has done a fine balancing act in her narrative, exploring the beauty and shortcomings of Bali (for every fragrant frangipani, there's a street defecation) and noting that many of the tourist villas are foreign-owned and "advancing like cancer across the fields". The author is well aware of the conundrum of the Balinese economy; how the desperate need for tourism sits alongside the destruction and pollution of the natural habitat resulting from the influx of travellers.

"Bali embodies many of the world's common tensions: globalism versus localism, capitalism versus spirituality, short-term self-interest versus the wellbeing of future generations," Higgins says. "The dichotomies are magnified, perhaps, because of the transient expatriate population: very few visitors end up having a long association with Bali. So the challenge for the island is how to balance these tensions in a sustainable way. There's no easy answer, but hopefully Fearless challenges readers not to ignore the complexity."

To the hordes of Australians descending upon the popular hotspot every year, Higgins adds, "Especially when we're on holidays in Bali – how can we engage with, rather than turn away from, the discomfiting problems?"

Higgins herself recently returned to Australia after a three-year stay in Indonesia while her husband was working in agricultural development there. They live with their three children in Sydney, where she works in philanthropy and non-profit organisations. She didn't set out to write a book based in Bali as her third novel.

"Strangely enough, the idea was born out of an intense tropical fever I suffered in 2014," she says. "At some point I was delirious – literally hallucinating – and these [imaginary] people filed into my bedroom. They were all international visitors attending a personal development workshop in Ubud. They shared their histories with me, and the writer in me wanted to document what they were saying, but I was too weak to move, so I spoke into my iPhone instead. After I recorded a few sentences about each of them, I simply fell asleep and forgot all about it."