Wake of the Raven is a story of the world's corruption, of forbidden desire and its awful consequences. In 1951, Stuart seeks to repair his broken marriage, and heads back to England in pursuit of his faithless wife. He must first cross the South China Sea to Singapore, a minor step in the voyage. But when an accident burdens him with the care of a precocious girl, the journey becomes a nightmarish odyssey through storm, desire and death. The mere hundred miles or so of sea is now an impassable barrier, confining him and his bitter thoughts to a narrow strip of sand and jungle, and he is reduced to an animal struggle for survival, with nothing but the girl and thoughts of the dead to help him. Like all people, evil wars in him with good, fear with ambition, desire with conscience. But when the girl's greater problems arouse his sympathy, it seems that good will triumph, for he unselfishly promises his help. The result is a disaster that strides towards him fully armed, with disgrace, murder and suicide clenched in its fists.