Pitcairn: Paradise Lost

Pitcairn Island, remote and wild, home to descendants of the Bounty, a South Pacific Shangri-la, shrouded in myth… But also, as the world would discover, a place of sinister secrets. In 2000, police descended on the British colony to investigate disturbing reports of rape. What they discovered was a shocking trail of child abuse dating back generations. Scarcely a man was untainted by the allegations, and barely a girl had escaped, yet most residents feigned ignorance or claimed it was their ‘way of life’. the ensuing trials would tear the tiny community of just 47 people apart, pitting neighbour against neighbour and reopening long-festering wounds. One of only six journalists to gain access to the island, Kathy Marks lived on Pitcairn during the trials and then followed the legal and human saga to its conclusion in 2007. In this riveting account, she uncovers a society gone badly astray, leaving lives shattered and codes broken: a paradise truly lost.