Reach for Paradise

Protected uniquely by distance and time, Pacific islands are different. Islands without money, islands recently bloody with cannibalism and headhunting, villages outside the modern world, an ocean of dancing and singing. Where a whale tooth is necessary to marry, where money grows on trees. Island spirits, landscapes, the splendor of coral, the gift economy, Rayner denies that Earth has any better elixir for a world-weary reader. This is a tale of the turquoise lagoons and welcoming peoples of the South Seas that, for over two centuries, have radiated the appeal of paradise . . A narrative of escape, populated by children of headhunters, paramount chiefs, crocodile hunters, weavers and woodcarvers, sorcerers, refugees from civilization, small island politicians and the ordinary farmers and fishermen of a hundred villages; A contemporary essence of Pacific island culture, woven with back story and scraps of ocean life.