SISTERS IN THE SUN by AS Helm & WH Percival ~ Hx of SUVAROV ~ Ref: Frisbie Neale

Description

SISTERS
IN THE SUN
The Story of Suwarrow
Palmerston Atolls
A.S. Helm and W.H. Percival
LONDON
ROBERT HALE & COMPANY
Copyright A.S. Helm and W.H. Percival 1973
F
irst published in Great Britain 1973
Hardbound in good to very good condition with dust jacket, 192 pages includes CONTENTS, ILLUSTRATION (List), PREFACE, COOK ISLAND MAP, INTRODUCTION and INDEX, measures approximately 5 ½” x 8 ¾”.
The jacket is glossy featuring a photo of one of the islands on the cover and is in very good condition with just minor wear primarily at the head and tail of the spine, but no frank chips or tears. Modest foxing is noted to the inner areas, but no fading or stains. The price in sterling is stated on the flat and it has been placed in an Archival Quality clear Mylar jacket cover to protect it in the future.
The boards are blue with titles blind stamped in silver on the spine only.  There is fading noted to the edges and crushing to the ends of the spine. Some deckling to the page edges, but no soil, bumps or significant edge wear.
The interior reveals contents that are clean and tightly bound. A previous owner name is written neatly in script at the top of the fly page but no further ownership or usage indications, no marks, creases or tears. There is noted some foxing, mostly associated with the photo pages that are printed on glossy stock that contained a higher acid content.
SISTERS IN THE SUN is a rather scarce book that addresses perhaps two of the most fascinating islands in the Pacific, both atolls, part of the Cook Islands, now self-governing in free association with New Zealand.
"Suwarrow and Palmerston are two of the smallest, loneliest, most isolated islands in the wide Pacific Ocean. Side by Side in the centre of the Cook Islands Group these tiny atolls inside their encircling reefs seem lost in an immensity of ocean, yet have a most interesting history.”
“Although these SISTERS IN THE SUN lie close together each has a different tale to tell. The authors, both of whom reside in the Cook Islands, have researched deeply into old records, interviewed people who know the islands intimately, and have completed a factual account that reads like fiction, so amazing are the details of their story.”
“Suwarrow’s tale of shipwrecks, castaways, pearl poachers, buried treasure, murders, starvation, hurricanes and hermits, contrasts with the remarkable story of William Marsters and the family he founded with his wives on Palmerston Island. Their unique way of life survives today despite hurricanes, low incomes and the fact that many have emigrated to other islands and to New Zealand. Their communal way of life has no counterpart anywhere in the Pacific.”
Robert Hale & Co. Publisher
Both islands, likely because of the nature of atolls being low lying land masses, have a history rich in shipwrecks and the events that followed with respect to the cargoes and survivors some of whom were quite colorful. For a century or more there have been rumors of buried treasure on Suvarov although the island’s sole long term resident Tom Neale, featured in this book, apparently had no interest in such material riches. Palmerston Island equally unique lies some 400 miles south of Suvarov, the longtime residence of one family.
SISTERS IN THE SUN was never published in the USA and as a result is little known and even less available in this country. It offers the most in depth history yet  published about Suvarov. For cruisers or historians, anyone interested in the island that so compelled Robert Dean Frisbie and Tom Neale, SISTERS IN THE SUN would be a wonderful collection piece.
NOTE: The Islands are named SUVAROV and/or SUWARROW depending on which nation in their history was claiming possession.  We do use the two interchangeably at times to communicate with readers of both proclivities.
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