Castaway tales from edge of the world

The latest book by Wellington maritime historian Joan Druett uses personal memoirs to recount two very different survival stories on the Auckland Islands, 500km south of NZ. Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked on the Edge of the World tells the tale of two British ships stranded on opposite sides of the main island in 1864, and the wildly different experiences had by their respective crews. “If the southern part of Auckland Island is all Robinson Crusoe,” writes the Toronto Star reviewer, “the northern part is more Lord of the Flies.” Druett has written ten non-fiction books and seven novels, most of which share a historical maritime theme. Almost all her works have been published first in the US, where she has received numerous awards. Her 1998 book Hen Frigates won a place in the New York Public Library’s list of Twenty-Five Best Books to Remember.