The Book of Puka-Puka

In 1924, Robert Frisbie arrived on the island of Puka-Puka, one of the most remote in the South Pacific, to run a trading post. Within months he had learned the language and become absorbed into the ways of its ancient, indigenous community - fishing, picnicking, swimming, sleeping and falling in love. Fortunately for us he also had a pitch-perfect ear for stories.

Before the book is done, we feel the power of the surf and the coral reefs, hear death chants and witness thirty torch-lit canoes setting out to net flying fish at night. Frisbie's interest in and love for the culture of this island and its inhabitants are infectious.

Auteur

Robert Dean Frisbie was a writer whose life and work came to be embedded in the South Pacific. Born in Ohio in 1896, his health was crippled by fighting in the First World War, and a doctor informed him that another North American winter would be his last. In 1920 he sailed for the South Pacific, ending up four years later on the island of Puka-Puka. Frisbie died in the Cook Islands in 1948, leaving five children.