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Glynn Christian |
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Glynn Christian is the
great-great-great-great-grandson
of Fletcher Christian who led the mutiny on Bounty
in 1789 and is the author of the only biography of
his ancestor. Remarkably, there are almost 3000 books and major articles on the
mutiny but until Fragile Paradise very little was known about Fletcher
Christian, and so the story was incomplete, one-sided. To complete his research
Glynn led a Royal Geographical Society supported sailing expedition to Pitcairn
Island and this adventure forms an important part of the book’s narrative.
In the third and
latest edition of Fragile Paradise, Glynn
Christian has added a ground-breaking appreciation of Bounty's
revolutionary Tahitian women, led by Mauatua, his
great-great-great-great-grandmother, who in old age
led Pitcairn women to becoming the first in the world with the vote.
Best known in the UK as a
BBC-TV chef-traveller and food journalist, Glynn Christian has been cooking on
British television since 1982. From 1983 he appeared on BBC
Breakfast-time three times weekly and
also guests regularly on prime time television and radio: he wrote weekly for
The Sunday Telegraph on food or food and travel and for most other well-known
magazines until 1995 when he went to Australasia.
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Mrs Christian: 'Bounty' Mutineer
Glynn Christian
ISBN 1590480503 |
Joanna Lumley says:" . . .
sensationally interesting. I had no idea there were women on the Bounty, nor
that they had the vote before this country. I wish the book the success it
so richly deserves."
"Congratulations! It was fun and easy to read, and sheds tremendous light on
the Pitcairn story.Sizzling sex scenes!": Distinguished
Professor Dame Anne Salmond, South Pacific anthropologist and author
"I
read it with intense interest and fascination . . . not only a thoughtful
but also a gripping and moving story, with wide implications. . . how much I
admire your impressive achievement . . ." : Rolf
DuRietz, Bounty scholar
This is the heroic and bloody, untold story of Mauatua,
Tahitian lover and wife of BOUNTY mutineer Fletcher Christian and of what
she and 11 other women endured to survive on Pitcairn Island, the mutineers'
secret refuge for almost twenty years. It is a story of Ma'ohi women
succeeding where white men failed, women who then became first in the world
to have the vote, in 1838, 90 years before the women of Britain. To secure
and then protect two of womanhood's most precious rights, the right to bear
children and the right of those children to a life of loving security,
Mauatua had to endure and sometimes motivate unspeakable brutality. In
response to the drunkenness, madness and physical cruelty of their European
lovers, Mauatua and the other Ma'ohi women mutinied against their BOUNTY
mutineer-kidnappers. They used Christian's revolutionary idea of voting to
agree the only course to ensure the safe future of their children - an
island with as few men as possible. But once they resorted to such extreme
measures there were secrets that must never be told, confidences that must
never be broken. A new history had to be written. When Pitcairn Island is
rediscovered in 1808, a living reminder of Mauatua's past life on Tahiti
challenges her certainties and everything she has done to protect the
island's children. Thirty years later she led the Pitcairn community to
ratifying two revolutionary concepts. Women had their right to vote written
into law, ninety years before the UK. And education was to be compulsory for
girls as well as boys. Eventually Mauatua is forced to disclose the truth
about Pitcairn's two greatest mysteries. Who did plan the massacres? What
did happen to Fletcher Christian? By telling her secrets, Mauatua/Mrs
Christian subjects herself to the judgment and outrage of those she fought
hardest to protect, her own children.
For more information, please visit
Barnes & Noble or
Amazon.co.uk. |
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Fragile Paradise
Glynn Christian
ISBN 1590482506
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“A masterly story, beautifully
told.” Gavin Kennedy, Bligh biographer.
“A valuable addition to Bountiana.”
Colleen McCullough.
“Deeply researched and highly
readable.” Robin Hanbury-Tenison OBE
The mutiny on
Bounty on 28 April 1789 was the revolt of one man against another —
Fletcher Christian against William Bligh. On that fateful day two friends
became mortal enemies in a mighty clash of wills that rocked a nation.
In Fragile
Paradise, the great-great-great-great-grandson of the Bounty
mutineer brings to life a fascinating and complex character history has
portrayed as both hero and villain, and the real story behind a mutiny that
continues to divide opinion more than 200 years later.
The result is a
brilliant and compelling historical detective story, full of intrigue,
jealousy, revenge and adventure on the high seas. Glynn Christian shares the
thrill of discovery as he follows the footsteps of his famous ancestor
through family papers, contemporary accounts and, ultimately, on his own
sailing expedition to Pitcairn Island where he finally solves the riddle of
Fletcher Christian’s death.
Fragile
Paradise sheds new light on Christian’s actions and the question of who
was the real villain of the mutiny. It also retraces the mutineers’
extraordinary voyage to find sanctuary and reveals for the first time the
pivotal role women played in this quest. Without the skills of the
Polynesian women they kidnapped, the mutineers would not have survived on
Pitcairn Island.
The story of the
first Englishman who found and lost paradise in the South Pacific and his
descendant’s personal odyssey to discover the truth, Fragile Paradise
is a fitting finale to a great adventure.
For more
information, please go to
Amazon.co.uk or
Barnes & Noble.
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