Selkirk's Island by Diana Souhami
Selkirk was a pirate and a buccaneer who sailed on the South Seas on looting expeditions for gold and treasure. In 1703 he joined an expedition whose object was to plunder French and Spanish ships. Conditions on the ship were appalling; scurvy, dysentery and typhus flourished and most of the crew died or went mad. Eventually they reached the island of Juan Fernandez 400 miles off the coast of Chile where Selkirk opted to maroon himself. Suddenly solitude and silence were imposed and his only relationship was to the island and to himself. He learnt to kill goats with cudgels and use their skins for coats and shoes. He hollowed out a canoe and circumnavigated the island. He wished there were a woman on the island, but perhaps he used the goats he had tamed for his sexual satisfaction. Gradually he found that company was not essential and that he was the Governor of this island, afraid of nothing it contained. In 1709 Selkirk spotted two ships from his cliff-top lookout. They saw his fire and the next morning had landed on Juan Fernandez to be greeted by an unrecognisable savage-looking man incoherent with emotion. Selkirk endured a painful few weeks as he watched his dominion being plundered, then sailed back with them to civilisation where he 'bewailed his return to the world.' He died in 1720 back at sea, of yellow fever. This is an outstanding book by an extremely fine writer based on journals of those who dumped and rescued Selkirk as well as on Souhami's own adventures to his island.
Although not the first examination of Alexander Selkirk's celebrated sojourn on Juan Fernandez Island (R L Megroz's The Real Robinson Crusoe immediately springs to mind as a straightforward earlier account), Souhami's stands with the best of themAs a pirate and buccaneer, Selkirk sailed the South Seas. In 1703, he joined a plundering expedition and, after experiencing appalling shipboard conditions, he opted to maroon himself on an island 400 miles off the coast of Chile. This book gives an authoritative account of the colourful story, using journals of those who dumped and rescued Selkirk, as well as Souhami's own visit to the island. Selkirk's life falls neatly into three stages: Early Life, The Maroon, and After. Add to this Defoe's literary classic, with the notoriety that sprang from the sailor's adventures, and the result is fertile ground for any writer. Souhami shows a sure mastery of sources and is consistently entertaining. The Tom Hanks film Cast Away will inevitably add interest to related titles, ensuring Selkirk's Island will not remain unvisited once published.
Diana Souhami is the author of many widely acclaimed books including Gertrude and Alice, described by John Richardson as 'a brilliant and witty chronicle of one of the happiest marriages in modern literary history'. She has also written plays for radio and television.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780297643852 |
| ISBN 10 | 0297643851 |
| Title | Selkirk's Island |
| Author | Diana Souhami |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Orion Publishing Co |
| Year published | 2001-05-10 |
| Number of pages | 256 |
| Prizes | Winner of Whitbread Book Awards: Biography Category 2001, Winner of Whitbread Prize (Biography) 2001 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |