Want To Live In “Paradise?”
Imagine walking out to your own slice of heaven every single day…well, I can dream, can’t I?
I’ve got some terrific travel books to share with you – they will make great holiday gifts for the #wanderlust person in your life!
Let’s begin with a terrific Writer who has lived at the far ends of the earth…
“The sun is spread, hot and arched, above the reef like a woman in abandon, sky shimmering like glistening skin…”
Yes, it is paradise: this picture of a resort in the Solomon Islands…a gorgeous escape, the adventure of a lifetime…but getting to paradise is another matter….
“Only two hours ago I’d been living through some of the worst moments I’d ever experienced, during which an understanding of the precariousness of life had been borne in me with frightening force.”
Time For Another Amazing Island Adventure!
Both of the quotes above are from an amazing book that continues the adventures of one of my favorite Authors!
First of all, what a beautiful cover for a book. Welcome to Pigeon Island, surrounded by many other, smaller islands like the one on the cover. I have posted before about the exotic adventures of Lucy Irvine, who began the adventure of a lifetime when she answered this want ad:
She not only answered the ad, her bestselling book “Castaway” documented her year on a deserted island with the man who placed the want ad, and the book was also made into a film!
After all of the acclaim, Irvine returned to a “regular” life, until the Author found herself with a unique opportunity for a sequel!
In 1999, Lucy Irvine took her three children to the farthest corner of the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific to live for a year on remote Pigeon Island…look at the center of the map above and notice the tiny mark for Pigeon island next to Reef Islands…
Irvine’s invitation to live in this isolated paradise came from an intrepid 80-year-old Pigeon Island resident, Diana Hepworth, who set sail from England years earlier with her family in their own search for a faraway paradise.
“Faraway” is not only Irvine’s story, it is the story of the Hepworth family and their amazing adventure years earlier…the two stories are intertwined, and both are fascinating…
“Faraway” tells the story of Irvine’s latest adventure – and what it was like to take her three boys with her, settling into a completely different life in the middle of the south seas…
“Faraway” also is the story of the Hepworths – an adventurous young couple who raised a family in a faraway land – and “Faraway” beautifully captures what life on a south seas island is like…because few islands are more isolated than this one…
Lucy Irvine is a beautiful writer, expertly capturing life in this secluded paradise, without forgetting all of the hardships and dangers that south seas life entails…
“Only two hours ago I’d been living through some of the worst moments I’d ever experienced, during which an understanding of the precariousness of life had been borne in me with frightening force.”
Irvine is a perceptive writer as well, capturing the joys and hardships of “roughing it” on an isolated island with her three sons, as well as learning the local culture and customs…and this book offers an insider’s look at life in the south pacific…
If you’ve ever wanted to escape to a tropical island, Irvine shows you what it is really like…
And of course, this terrific memoir follows Irvine’s previous masterwork:
The Brilliant “Castaway!”
I first got hooked on Irvine’s writing when I came across her memoir in a used bookstore.
Irvine answered a want ad, and spent a year on a deserted island! To read all about the book, as well as the british film that was made about it, click on the entire story here:
And here’s another amazing book: this Author managed to get permission to move to the “Mutiny On The Bounty” island – and shares the troubling story of life there…click to see more:
This Writer worked as a teacher on a south seas island – click to find out what “paradise” was like up close!
For one terrific Travel writer, he ended up sharing an island with…cannibals!
J. Maarten Troost has written several terrific travel memoirs that are insightful and hilariously funny as well! See them hereL
Of course, island living might not be for everyone – unless it’s only a part-time island!
That’s right: Sicily’s Isola Bella is an island twice a day – at high tide!
Click here for video of this gorgeous getaway!
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Let me know what you think of these amazing, and topical, adventures – and if you like them, please share on social media!
Categories: Art, Books / Media, Exotic Travel, Memoirs, nature, Pop Culture, Talent/Celebrities, Travel, Travel Adventures, Travel Memoir
johnrieber 
Very cool!
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I do so love to read books or see docs about people who have actually undertaken this kind of endeavor.
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Oh my, talking about being ready for an adventure, whatever form that may take! I have to get my trips in small doses, but it’s amazing how awesome our world is and the people in it. I do wonder if Hugh Grant had any of these books in his store in “Notting Hill?”
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HA! I love that question!
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There is usually a dark side to living in a ‘paradise’, and it takes a certain kind of person to adapt to that lifestyle. I doubt it would suit me, John.
Best wishes, Pete.
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