Help me welcome a new Sponsor in our Christmas Gift Guide 2022: The Far Land: 200 Years of Murder, Mania, and Mutiny in the South Pacific written by Brandon Presser from PublicAffairs and Bold Type Books I received in exchange for this review.
When I saw the Press Release for The Far Land I immediately thought of my Uncles who would have enjoyed the story along with my dad. But both my Uncles and also my dad have passed away so I can’t share the book with them. Instead I plan on giving The Far Land to my father in law now that I’ve read the book.
Throughout the past week I’ve been reading The Far Land: 200 Years of Murder, Mania, and Mutiny in the South Pacific and once I begin reading the book I don’t want to put it down. This is a murder mystery book which is the genre of books I read as a child but hadn’t read in years and I really did enjoy the plot and the book has made me want to check out more murders.
I loved that the book is set in the South Pacific which took me back to a Musical I saw when I was in high school that I would like to watch again although the musical and the book are completely different.
About the book:
Brandon Presser’s The Far Land: 200 Years of Murder, Mania, and Mutiny in the South Pacific, which the New York Times Book Review labeled “a mash-up of an 18th-Century adventure novel and the darkest episode of ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’ imaginable” and made Tom Hanks declare “You can’t make this stuff up!”
200 Years of Murder, Mania, and Mutiny in the South Pacific
DESCRIPTION
A thrilling true tale of power, obsession, and betrayal at the edge of the world
In 1808, an American merchant ship happened upon an uncharted island in the South Pacific and unwittingly solved the biggest nautical mystery of the era: the whereabouts of a band of fugitives who, after seizing their vessel, had disappeared into the night with their Tahitian companions.
Pitcairn Island was the perfect hideaway from British authorities, but after nearly two decades of Isolation its secret society had devolved into a tribalistic hellscape; a real-life Lord of the Flies, rife with depravity and deception.
Seven generations later, the Island’s diabolical past still looms over its 48 residents; descendants of the original mutineers, marooned like modern castaways. Only a rusty cargo ship connects Pitcairn with the rest of the world, just four times a year.
In 2018, Brandon Presser rode the freighter to live among its present-day families; two clans bound by circumstance and secrets. While on the Island, he pieced together Pitcairn’s full story: an Operatic saga that holds all who have visited in its mortal clutch—even the author.
Told through vivid historical and personal narrative, The Far Land goes beyond the infamous mutiny on the Bounty, offering an unprecedented glimpse at life on the fringes of Civilization, and how, perhaps, it’s not so different from our own.
About: Brandon Presser
Brandon Presser was born in Ottawa, Canada, and has lived in Paris, Tokyo, and New York City. Called a “rough-and-tough adventurer” by Entertainment Weekly, he has visited over 130 Countries, and his travel writing has been featured in numerous publications including Bloomberg, Harper’s Bazaar, Condé Nast Traveler and Lonely Planet. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
