The Blue Lagoon (1908) is a novel by Henry De Vere Stacpoole. The first in a trilogy of novels including The Garden of God (1923) and The Gates of Morning (1925), The Blue Lagoon is a story of romance and adventure inspired by the author’s travels in the South Pacific. A total of five films have been adapted from the novel, including the hit 1980 drama of the same name starring Brooke Shields. “The Pacific slept; a vast, vague swell flowing from far away down south under the night, lifted the Northumberland on its undulations to the rattling sound of the reef points and the occasional creak of the rudder; whilst overhead, near the fiery arch of the Milky Way, hung the Southern Cross like a broken kite.” When a terrible shipwreck leaves them stranded on a deserted island in the South Pacific, Dick and Emmeline Lestrange are merely children. Paddy Button, the ship’s cook and the only other survivor, takes it upon himself to train them in the ways of survival, teaching the arts of fishing and pearl diving to ensure the youths know how to take full advantage of a hostile environment. When Paddy dies from alcoholism, Dick and Emmeline are more than prepared to fend for themselves, but as they grow into young adulthood, a strange sense of desire starts to take hold. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Henry De Vere Stacpoole’s The Blue Lagoon is a classic of British literature reimagined for modern readers.
