Lost Paradise: From Mutiny on the Bounty to a Modern-Day Legacy of Sexual Mayhem, the Dark Secrets of Pitcairn Island Revealed

I have been fascinated with Pitcairn Island since I first saw Mutiny on the Bounty. I had visions of an island paradise. I then heard about a sexual abuse scandal on the island at one point but the news did not spend much time on it so I did not learn much. Then I saw this book. While Lost Paradise first and foremost is a book about the horrible sexual abuse and child molestation scandal that occurred on the island it also gives the reader an understanding of how the mutineer's legacy led to this modern day tragedy. The author does a great job in interweaving the stories of a modern day trial on an isolated, remote island of approximately 50 people, most of who were relatives of the mutineers who decided to make the deserted island their home in 1790. In a moving chapter called "Reaping a Sad Legacy Since Bounty Times" the author explains that after the mutiny Christian returned to Tahiti. After inviting some Tahitians (mostly women) on board for a party Christian cut the anchor cable. One woman jumped overboard and six older woman were left of on a nearby island but a dozen women including a girl of 14 were left for 15 men. She writes "Such is the basis on which Pitcairn was established: women abducted and shared out like rations of rum, then held captive, effectively, on a remote island 1,300 miles from home." Some 10 years later only one mutineer was left alive (as well as most of the women and the children fathered by the other men) because of infighting and illness. In another chapter called "Lord of the Flies" the author looks at what happens when a small group of people create their own society on a deserted island. She compares the culture to other isolated islands. I want to stress that this information is intertwined with the stories of those on trial and the victims as well. The information about the trial and life on modern day Pitcairn Island is well documented and seemingly fair. In order to make this book as good as it is the author needed to be part criminal trial reporter, part historian and part anthropologist. She was all three and more. This is a fascinating book about a terrible abuse scandal on isolated island founded by famous mutineers.

In 2004, a trial was held on Pitcairn Island, that tiny speck of land in the vast Pacific Ocean, and settled in the 1700s by the mutinous crew of the infamous HMAV (His Majesty's Armed Vessel) Bounty. But eventually, Great Britain declared that those events were a long time ago, far, far away. Can't we all be friends? That seemed to be the case for the remaining families on Pitcairn Island, until allegations of mass rape and child abuse were uncovered. In Lost Paradise, author and journalist Kathy Marks was selected to accompany the lawyers and judges in a trial that had neighbors accusing neighbors and families accusing families of the gravest misconduct. Marks reviews the initiation of the original investigation, the various trials, and then delves, speculatively, into how and why this abuse could occur, and whether it is the fault of the British government, clueless or powerless religious leaders and school teachers, fearful parents, or simply the result of an island culture's unique history and evolution. The residents of Pitcairn Island are terribly angry at the British government, their accusers, and Kathy Marks and the other journalists. "The unforgivable crime, in the Pitcairners' eyes, was not sexually assaulting children, but betraying the island" (p. 79). Marks uses her journalistic eyes and ears to capture, as well as possible for an outsider, the sense of Pitcairn as a place. Although idyllic in some ways, living on a speck in the ocean has its drawbacks as well. It is not a place for the weak-willed. Leaders needed to be strong. And everybody seemed related to everyone else. It is unknown when child abuse on the island started (indeed, when does it start anywhere?), but over the past 40 years its "acceptability" seemed to increase. This "acceptability" wasn't legal, moral, or even discussed. Marks points out evidence during the trials and her investigations afterward that this abuse was a well-know "secret". It was the "Pitcairn way." And, from the islanders' perspective, they wanted to deal with it in their way, not necessarily the British legal system way. And they certainly didn't appreciate the role of journalists. "While Betty was still friendly to us, in her slightly guarded way, the animosity of most of the other locals was getting me down. It was not as if the islanders knew any of us personally; they disliked us solely because of our jobs. The majority believed, or claimed to believe, that the media were writing and broadcasting fiction. My perception of reality seemed so different from theirs that I sometimes felt like I was going mad" (p. 129). What I know about the trials (there were more than one) is nothing from the national or international newspapers; my perspective comes entirely from reading this book. Certainly there are known cases of mass delusion involving child abuse, but clearly it occurred. The debate should be not if, but how much and by whom? But the islanders' focus was on th

Kathy Marks, the author of "Lost Paradise" was one of only six journalists allowed access to Pitcairn and who covered the sensational trials of several influential Pitcairn inhabitants, prominent men who were accused of the most abhorrent crimes - that of sexual abuse of young girls on the island. Pitcairn Island has historic significance going back generations, as it was the island that became home to Fletcher Christian and other mutineers from the HMS Bounty. Today, it is home to about 50 descendants of the early settlers and until recently, was viewed as a sort of paradise on earth, an idyllic island, remote and peaceful. Little did the general public know of the dark secrets concealed for generations by the island's inhabitants, and even those from the outside world who were privy to what was going on - that of the systematic sexual abuse of young children, condoned by many of the inhabitants, and seen as part of the island culture. The horrors finally came to light when one young teenage girl alleged rape and the world discovered Pitcairn's horrific secret. Reading this book is like "The Lord of the Flies" come alive - how a remote society, isolated from the outside world, developed close kinship and strong bonds, and where the strong preyed upon the innocent, almost 'cannibalistic' in nature, where grown men, so-called leaders of others systematically indulged in the violation of innocent children. Worse still, is the revelation of the cult of secrecy surrounding the abuse, where the violated have no voice and rights to decry the abuse, instead are forced to endure and keep silent. Kathy Marks does an excellent job painting a compelling portrait not only of the case proceedings, but also of the culture of the Pitcairn Islanders and the foundations of the society that allowed for these abuses to go on for so long, unchecked. I found those who abetted these criminals extremely abhorrent - justifying the abuse as part of the island culture of breaking them in? The attitude of indifference is simply appalling. I wonder at the years of therapy needed to get the victims over their trauma. This is horrific reading, but very compelling, and I for one could not put the book down. Highly recommended.

Kathy Marks did a remarkable job writing this book. "Lost Paradise" was compelling, factual and offered insight into a society gone horribly astray. Whether you are familiar or unfamiliar with the drama that has taken place on Pitcairn Island, this book delves deeper than those judging and prosecuting the legal entanglement dared, to take a look at just where society failed. How many people needed to suffer for justice to prevail? Is there really justice? The generations as well as the nature of abuse was staggering. Taking a look at a society where perpetrators of rape, pedophilia and domestic violence are applauded, this book delves into moral questioning and historical questioning as to how it could have come to this. Firm proof indicates just how long outsiders of the island knew of these problems before they came to light and the world was made aware of them. The legal, moral, and personal revelations in this book are shocking, and bring an incredibly unique culture into light. Taking it a step further, the book discusses human nature at large. Were the results unique to Pitcairn Island, or to any small, unsupervised and interdependent society? Several years ago, I became curious about Pitcairn Island and its unique history, how it was settled by mutineers and a few Tahitians who had been tricked onto the ship (The Bounty) before they set out for this haven where they would hide from the law. Current web pages belie the true nature of this society. I thought that it was a quaint island paradise where natives worked communally and produced fine woodcarvings and honey for export. This book makes it clear just how hard these people worked to maintain this illusion. The author spent several weeks on this island interviewing people and getting a feel for the history and culture of the place. She was one of only six to be able to witness the courtroom proceedings that were prosecuting only a few of the worst offenders. However, it is made clear that virtually every man on this island and many of the women engaged in horrible kinds of abuse of children. The women, even if they didn't rape the children (and rape often began as early as three) remained silent. If they did speak up, it was usually to chastise the child for taking part in the abuse. When parents did speak up for their daughters, they were summarily ignored and dismissed. Because of the small size of the population, huge amounts of abuse took place between relatives. Brothers would rape sisters, grandfathers would rape granddaughters, uncles would rape nieces and nephews would rape aunts. The only taboo was that fathers would not rape daughters. Everything else was ignored or even encouraged. The author notes how when the island was first settled, the English mutineers each took a wife and they allotted three Tahitian women for the nine Tahitian men that they had brought along against their will. After two of the mutineers' wives died unexpectedly, they forcib

Benefiting from extensive Hollywood exposure over the years, the "Mutiny on the Bounty" has become an increasingly romanticized event. Ordinary sailors rebelling against a tyrannical Captain Bligh, Bligh's extraordinary journey back to civilization after being cast adrift with a few supporters in a lifeboat with no compass, some of the mutineers settling on the virtually unknown Pitcairn Island to create a life for themselves and their newly-created "families" consisting of sensuous Polynesian women...the story kind of writes itself. But the romanticized version is a far cry from the reality, which Kathy Marks does a good job of describing. What Pitcairn Island became was not a paradise lost, but an incestuous community where, as the phrase goes, "some animals were more equal than others," and where men ruled the roost with little consideration for the women of the island beyond their sexual value. (This was in fact the case from the very beginning, because virtually all of the women who ended up on Pitcairn had been at best tricked or at worst kidnapped from other islands in the area.) Pitcairn is considered a British holding because the mutineers were British. As Marks points out, the island, while certainly isolated and difficult to get to, was neither unknown nor unvisited by military vessels even when the original mutineers were alive. Except for a period during WW II, there has been more or less continuous communication with the island's inhabitants. The Seventh-Day Adventist Church has had a rotating ministership onsite for decades. In fact, the island long ago became a cruise ship mecca, even though until recently the waters around the island were considered so difficult to navigate that only the Pitcainers themselves were capable of doing so. In other words, outsiders have visited and even settled, and yet the island remains populated by between 60-200 people at any given time. Of those people, a certain group of men have historically dominated the power structure and been able to "rule" virtually unchecked. And one of the things this group had control over was the women and young girls of the island, to the extent that girls as young as 5 were repeatedly sexually assaulted, often for years, but could do nothing about it. Because the men assaulting them were often the brothers, fathers, and uncles of their mothers and fathers, the girls' parents refused to act in their own childrens' defense. It was *expected* that older men would "break in" younger girls, brutally or not, with the result that girls became pregnant at obscenely young ages, not to mention traumatized and even injured. The very outsiders who should have helped -ministers and teachers, for example - quickly become co-opted by the system and did nothing either. When this situation came to light in 2000 as a result of a complaint by a young Pitcairn woman to a sympathetic outsider the British government, acting through its New Zealand legal proxies, was forced to invest