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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher
Original language
English
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THE FAR LAND

Brandon Presser

200 Years of Murder, Mania, and Mutiny in the South Pacific

The first book that tells the full story of the tiny, fascinating island of Pitcairn, home of precisely 49 people, all descendants of the original founders of the island, the famous mutineers who were the basis for the novels and movie, The Mutiny On the Bounty.
The public has been fascinated by Pitcairn since tales of it first started spreading in the early 1900s. But beyond the fictional Mutiny on the Bounty trilogy, there's never been a true deep dive, with full, unencumbered access. Until now.

In The Far Land, travel writer Brandon Presser chronicles his time living on the island with its two resident families, marrying the island's haunting legend with my modern-day misadventures. He delves into its history: investigating the motives of the original mutineers who felt the need to burn their boats when they found this unmapped piece of rock in the middle of the Pacific, and why so many years later, people still stay there. He unpacks the natural resources and topology that first caused British explorers to decide to never return to their previous lives and families. And he goes deep into the problems inherent in such a matriarchal society where modern society's norms travel slowly.

The Far Land is also about an outsider studying the most insular community on Earth while at the same time reckoning with his own (and all of our own) human nature as he finds so many of the problems this tiny society faces are not at all exclusive to them. The book is an operatic thriller rife with lust, jealousy, and greed, told with newly unearthed detail and unprecedented access to the island and its people.

Brandon Presser was born in Ottawa, Canada, and has lived in Paris, Tokyo, and New York City. Called a "rough-and-tough adventurer" by Entertainment Weekly, he has visited over 130 countries, and his travel writing has been featured in numerous publications including Bloomberg, Harper's Bazaar, Condé Nast Traveler and Lonely Planet. He holds a bachelor's degree from Harvard University.
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Published 2022-03-08 by Basic Books

Comments

Presser debuts with a fascinating account of what happened after the HMS Bounty mutineers settled on the remote South Pacific island of Pitcairn in 1790. [He] expertly intertwines the historical and contemporary elements of the story and brings Pitcairn's unusual culture to vibrant life. Readers will have a tough time putting this one down. Read more...

New York Post feature on life on the island today, and book mention. Read more...

The Far Land uncovers the almost unbelievable true story of Pitcairn Island, while taking readers on an exciting journey to one of the most remote communities in the world... Presser excels at depicting the strangeness, but his novelistic account of what happened to the original colonists is stranger and bloodier - and unforgettable in its shocking details... Lord of the Flies pales in comparison. Read more...

Bloomberg has published their story with Brandon on "travel hacks from one of Bloomberg's most prolific travel contributors." They include mention of the book calling it: "Riveting and obsessively researched." Read more...

UK: Icon

Meticulously researched... Armchair adventurers will appreciate the author's sharp and sympathetic eye, showing us the mechanics of a truly remote civilization. Presser's detailed account provides a sense of authority to a story too bizarre to be anything but true. Read more...

The Far Land swells in the cause and effect of actions of passion. Brandon Presser's fascinating narrative of the relentless consequences of the Bounty mutineers asks: were they brave or damned? They lived so very troubled ever after. You can't make this stuff up!

A mash-up of an 18th-century adventure novel and the darkest episode of 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit' imaginable.

Brandon Presser moves far beyond the Mutiny on the Bounty to the devastating tale of the Pitcairn Island settlement, a real-life Lord of the Flies tragedy. As Brandon finds when he makes a protracted visit to the island, it's a story still unwinding and a definite reminder that island and paradise are two words which often don't go together. It's a tale which seamlessly blends his new take on the mutiny and its aftermath with his own experiences on Pitcairn today.

A highly accomplished travel writer, Brandon Presser's The Far Land hits a lot of my pleasure centers: remote islands, then-and-now non-fiction, historical mysteries and forthright travelogues. The first night I started reading, I dreamed about Pitcairn Island.

Brandon's excellent essay for The Globe & Mail: A brief history of how tropical islands became 'paradise' Read more...

It's easy to assume that nothing new could be unearthed or written about [the Bounty]. But in his debut book, travel journalist Brandon Presser does exactly that, and brilliantly...[He] has managed to create a fact-based book that reads as grippingly as any thriller... an incredible, unforgettable tale. Read more...