Andrew is a very self-contained, self-dependent person. He has developed a life-style that is relatively isolated, at least in an emotional sense, from the world around him. He is passionate about his world of wine but far less so about the people who inhabit it and that outside. He is also a fairly conservative and non-adventurous sort of person, certainly in regard to how he lives his life and operates within the legal and cultural environments into which he comes into contact. He is not a great “envelope pusher” or risk taker in his mode of living. In many ways, he is like most of the rest of the world – a reasonably decent, law-abiding citizen – but one who has been very much influenced in his personal development by the isolation of his Australian upbringing, in spite of his much-travelled life-style. He tries to go about his business with a minimum of fuss and bother.
In Niki and Jakov and their family, he discovers a different world. Jakov, especially, brings him into closer touch with a seamier, less well-behaved mode of existence than he has probably ever encountered before. His interviews with the police in Dubrovnik are the first such meetings that he has ever had and he finds them unpleasant and a trial – and an experience for which he is totally unprepared. Niki, on the other hand, appears to have no connection with Jakov’s nefarious activities but is totally prepared to lie, and to have Andrew lie, to protect Jakov. Her sense of civic honesty and responsibility is light years away from that of Andrew. All this occurs in a cultural environment that is totally foreign to Andrew – full of ancient ethnic enmities, a foreign language, and personal histories completely different from those with which he is familiar.
Andrew’s emerging affection for Niki and her requests for his help drive him towards her position of withholding information from the police. Andrew tries desperately to honour his undertaking to her but, being unprepared for the task and because of his inherent honesty and desire to retain his integrity, he discloses effectively everything he knows to the police. He knows that they probably already knew as much as, if not more, than he knew but, nevertheless, he knows that he has broken his undertaking to Niki and, while he rationalises that it should not matter, Niki makes no bones about her disappointment in his behaviour and feels betrayed by him.
As he leaves Dubrovnik, he is in despair but has no way of fully understanding or rectifying the damage he has done to their budding relationship – and Niki is certainly not in a mood to help him. His choice between his personal integrity and his emotional feelings towards Niki have raised a barrier between them that he is unable to break down.
