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An Island to Oneself by Tom Neale (Hardback)

Six Years Alone on a Desert Island

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$35.99

A South Seas classic since 1966, this is the story of one New Zealanderbrave enough to do what we have all now and then dreamed of doing – livealone on a desert island

In his youth Tom Neale was an ordinary seaman and for years a shopkeeperamong the Cook Islands, but he was in his fifties when he turned his back onsociety to live alone on the South Pacific atoll of Suvarov (now known asSuwarrow). With him he took nothing but a couple of cats, some bric-a-brac totie and bolt his meagre dwelling, and the strength of body and mind tosurvive.

In the six years over which Neale wrote this autobiography there were heroicmoments when he battled the elements: the furious hurricane that engulfed thecoral islet; five desperate hours in a stormy lagoon with a cripplingly strainedback; even a reluctant bit of blood-letting on wild pigs and a mammoth seaturtle.

But along with the toils and perils were years of peace and beauty: buildinga chicken coop; baking with banana leaves; the delight drawn from a sip ofbrandy; and taming a wild duck. All of these simple pleasures are a reminder ofwhat we take for granted in our own lives today.

A South Seas classic since 1966, this is the story of one New Zealanderbrave enough to do what we have all now and then dreamed of doing – livealone on a desert island

In his youth Tom Neale was an ordinary seaman and for years a shopkeeperamong the Cook Islands, but he was in his fifties when he turned his back onsociety to live alone on the South Pacific atoll of Suvarov (now known asSuwarrow). With him he took nothing but a couple of cats, some bric-a-brac totie and bolt his meagre dwelling, and the strength of body and mind tosurvive.

In the six years over which Neale wrote this autobiography there were heroicmoments when he battled the elements: the furious hurricane that engulfed thecoral islet; five desperate hours in a stormy lagoon with a cripplingly strainedback; even a reluctant bit of blood-letting on wild pigs and a mammoth seaturtle.

But along with the toils and perils were years of peace and beauty: buildinga chicken coop; baking with banana leaves; the delight drawn from a sip ofbrandy; and taming a wild duck. All of these simple pleasures are a reminder ofwhat we take for granted in our own lives today.

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