Island of the Lost - by Joan Druett (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

It is 1864, and Captain Thomas Musgrave's schooner, the Grafton, has just wrecked on Auckland Island, a forbidding piece of land 285 miles south of New Zealand. Battered by year-round freezing rain and constant winds, it is one of the most inhospitable places on earth. To be shipwrecked there means almost certain death.

Incredibly, at the same time on the opposite end of the island, another ship runs aground during a storm. Separated by only twenty miles and the island's treacherous, impassable cliffs, the crews of the Grafton and the Invercauld face the same fate. And yet where the Invercauld's crew turns inward on itself, fighting, starving, and even turning to cannibalism, Musgrave's crew bands together to build a cabin and a forge--and eventually, to find a way to escape.

Using the survivors' journals and historical records, award-winning maritime historian Joan Druett brings to life this extraordinary untold story about leadership and the fine line between order and chaos.

Review Quotes

"If the southern part of Auckland Island is all Robinson Crusoe, the northern part is more Lord of the Flies . . . Druett is an able and thorough guide . . . [She] shows that real leadership is rare and powerful." --The New York Times Book Review

"Druett's well-researched account earns its place in any good collection of survival literature." --Entertainment Weekly

"Those yearning for a classic man vs. nature, triumph-over-terrible-odds story, get ready to set sail." --Paste

"Swashbuckling maritime history reanimated by a noted naval enthusiast . . . Druett excels at recreating the men's struggles and desperation (tempered by boundless hope)." --Kirkus Reviews

"This is a fine addition to the genre of survival tales like Endurance or In the Heart of the Sea." --Publishers Weekly