The Hurricane is a classic tale of survival in the South Seas. It was written in 1935 by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall (authors of Mutiny On The Bounty).
The setting is Manukura, one of the many atolls and islets of the Tuamotu archipelago in French Polynesia, which the natives call the Islands of the Distant Sea. Remote and sparsely populated by about 150 people, they are self sufficient by fishing and harvesting Copra to trade with visiting ships from westward Tahiti. The tale is recalled to us by Kersaint, the island Doctor, as he visits the islet years later. There are three other Europeans on the island - Father Paul, a Roman Catholic priest, de Laage the administrator and his wife Madame de Laage.
Terangi is young and well respected, married to Marama, the daughter of chief Fakahau. Working on the trading ships, he is in a bar in Tahiti when a white man insults him. He strikes the man and is sent to jail for a few months. He attempts escape and is recaptured several times, each incident bringing a longer penalty until his sentence is 16 years. Still, he does manage to escape one last time and heads home to his family. On the island there have been exhaustive searches for him, although the population as a whole feel he was wrongly punished. Plans are put into motion to hide and protect Terangi and his family on a nearby islet, but it is not to be - the weather becoming dangerous. As the title proclaims, a massive hurricane is upon the island and attempts to take cover in the three solid structures available is failing, they must rope themselves to the tops of the palms and ride it out.
It's an exciting tale told around the central event and it's aftermath, as the few survivors find each other again. Reprinted many times, it was twice turned into a film - successfully in 1937 directed by John Ford with Mary Astor as Madame de Laage; and again in 1979 with Mia Farrow, although they took only the title and the hurricane from the novel, creating a different story around it. I enjoyed learning about the Polynesian culture and the make-up of the archipelago. I did not know the tiny, desolate islets have large lagoons in the centres, making them rings of land only a few miles wide.
I was lucky to find a 1938 hardcover in great shape, inscribed on the flyleaf in beautiful script to Bishop Burd, This story of the South Sea islands will take you a long long way from #367. And that is its purpose. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Connie February 2/38.
Thanks Connie, it was great.
1935 / Hardcover / 257 pages
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