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.

The Book of Puka-Puka is not about travel, it is about staying in one place. 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 – a young American who fishes, picnics, swims, sleeps and falls in love but fortunately also listens out for good stories.