Book excerpt: Magic, depravity, spiritual ambition, sensuality, and love -- The Painted Alphabet binds mythic and modern time together in a rich, slyly suggestive novel based on an old Balinese poem. In a fresh and startling picture of Bali -- where witches coexist with tourists and talking animals -- the novel explores a kaleidoscope of vanity, desire, and the longing for goodness. ,