Invites readers to join the author on one of his most exotic and tantalizing adventures exploring the coasts and blue lagoons of the Pacific Islands, and taking up residence to discover the secrets of these isles.

Paul Theroux invites us to join him on one of his most exotic and tantalizing adventures exploring the coasts and blue lagoons of the Pacific Islands, and taking up residence to discover the secrets of these isles. Theroux is a mesmerizing narrator - brilliant, witty, keenly perceptive as he floats through Gauguin landscapes, sails in the wake of Captain Cook and recalls the bewitching tales of Jack London and Robert Louis Stevenson. Alone in his kayak, paddling to seldom visited shores, he glides through time and space, discovering a world of islands, their remarkable people, and in turn, happiness. 'A sharp, fascinating and highly entertaining book ...Theroux at his best' - "Daily Telegraph".

Part 1 Meganesia: New Zealand - the land of the long white cloud
New Zealand - sloshing through the South Island
waffling in white Australia
walkabout in Woop Woop
north of the never-never. Part 2 Melanesia: buoyant in the peaceful Trobiands
aground in the troubled Trobriands
the Solomon - down and dirty in Guadalcanal
the Solomons - in the Egg Fields of Savo Island
Vanuatu - cannibals and missionaries
the oddest island in Vanuatu
Fiji - the dividied island of Viti Levu
Fiji - Vanua Levu and the islets of Bligh Water. Part 3 Polynesia: Tonga - the royal island of Tongatapu
Tonga - alone on the desert islands of Vava'u
in the backwaters of Western Samoa
American Samoa - the littered lagoon
Tahiti - the windward shore of the island of love
a voyage to the Marquesas
the Cook Islands - in the lagoon of Aitutaki
Easter Island - beyond the surf zone of Rapa Nui
Easter Island - the old canoe ramp at Tongariki. Part 4 Paradise: Oahu - open espionage in Honalulu
Kauai - following the dolphins on the Na Pali coast
Niihau and Lanai - some men are islands
the big island - paddling in the state of grace.