The Book of Puka-Puka

Puka-Puka is a triangular coral reef, some seven miles in circumference with three islands. It frames a lagoon so clear that one can see the coral forests some ten fathoms below. It is the most remote, and probably the most beautiful, of all the Cook Islands.

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The Book of Puka-Puka is not about travel, it is about staying still. It is about living as a conspicuous stranger and slowly allowing yourself to become absorbed into the ways of an ancient, indigenous community. This book was not composed by a colonial administrator, a missionary or an anthropologist, but by a hedonistic South Sea trader. This young American fishes, picnics, swims, sleeps and falls in love but fortunately he also listens out for good stories.