Dimensions
129 x 198 x 20mm
This is the first book to tell the whole extraordinary story of the mutiny on HMS "Bounty", and the settlement of the mutineers on Pitcairn Island. Once they had cast Captain Bligh adrift, the mutineers, accompanied by some Polynesian men and women, searched for a home where they could avoid the long arm of British justice. Pitcairn - one of the most isolated islands in the Pacific - was the ideal place, and they lived there undiscovered for nearly twenty years. By the time they were found, all the men were dead, except one, John Adams, who was living along with the women and children in an idyllic community.
But it emerged that terrible things had happened on Pitcairn - two-thirds of the men had been slaughtered within four years of landing on the island. Yet the stories told by the survivors were strangely contradictory. What really went on during those hidden years? Who killed whom, and why? And how had a community with such bloody beginnings evolved into such a peaceful place?
'Life & Death In Eden' pieces together the full course of these mysterious events. The result is a fascinating blend of eighteenth-century seafaring, pacific island paradises, murder, conflict and renaissance.
