As a writer, when you come across a book that really bites, it’s like a gift from the universe. Island of the Lost by Joan Druett is one of those books. I stumbled upon it by happenstance, while looking for Arctic exploration reads.
Although it’s taboo to say in this industry, the cover jumped out at me. Here I was, staring at this cerulean cover of stormy waves battering an old sailing ship. A historical read? Some tale of survival?, I thought.
Me being a person who absolutely enjoys books based on historical accounts of adventure and exploration and tales of survival, I downloaded the sample and began reading. I’ll admit, those first few chapters were like walking through a trail riddled with stones. There were some choppy sentences, and it just wasn’t coming together.
Still, believing the story was worth the time, I purchased it. It was the best book purchase I made that year.
About Island of the Lost
Island of the Lost: An Extraordinary Story of Survival at the Edge of the World by Joan Druett is an unbelievably beautiful story. The description below is from its Amazon listing.
"It is 1864, and Captain Thomas Musgrave’s schooner, the Grafton, has just wrecked on Auckland Island, a forbidding piece of land 285 miles south of New Zealand. Battered by year-round freezing rain and constant winds, it is one of the most inhospitable places on earth. To be shipwrecked there means almost certain death.
"Incredibly, at the same time on the opposite end of the island, another ship runs aground during a storm. Separated by only twenty miles and the island’s treacherous, impassable cliffs, the crews of the Grafton and the Invercauld face the same fate. And yet where the Invercauld’s crew turns inward on itself, fighting, starving, and even turning to cannibalism, Musgrave’s crew bands together to build a cabin and a forge—and eventually, to find a way to escape.
"Using the survivors’ journals and historical records, award-winning maritime historian Joan Druett brings to life this extraordinary untold story about leadership and the fine line between order and chaos."
Review of Island of the Lost
The first thing I’m going to point out is the absolute importance of relationship-building when writing about characters. From dialogue to general actions, the character’s connections must seem real in order to create an endearing work of literature.
This is sometimes hard to do when working with an historical book, which relies on events that have already happened. There’s no leeway for the author to add in elements that didn’t occur but that could help with characterization.
For example, whenever I'm working on a new piece, I sometimes reach out to individuals who are comparably similar to a character I might be working on. I'm currently in the process of this very concept with The Busker Project.
Whether it's their life experiences or manner of being, there's insight there that can be used to create a realistic character. But there's much artistic license in this process, and that's often hindered when telling a story based on true events, where the author is intending to remain true to the original tale.
What Joan Druett did in Island of the Lost was merge her creative writing style with the compiled journals of the actual sailors of the event. This, along with historical records, was the basis for her approach. What the reader gets are events brought to life by the author’s own hand.
A Story That Needs to be Told
I’ll admit that when I first saw the Island of the Lost, I had never heard of the Grafton, Invercauld, or of the incredible story that accompanied them. I later found that this event is largely unknown in the States. It has a few mentions globally, but it mostly resides in the historical annals of New Zealand and Australia. I found that unbelievable, as it’s such an extraordinary tale.
There are two themes at play in Island of the Lost, the first is the power of good leadership and how it can turn a bad situation into a survivable one. It parallels the concept of terrible leadership that can bring an entire crew of skilled and specialized sailors to its knees.
"If a group was to survive the ordeal, the Invercauld had all the right people to do it. However, what they lacked was proper leadership."
One aspect to note here is that the Grafton consisted of five crewmen, the captain, first mate, cook, and two others. The Invercauld consisted of over twenty skilled crewmen, including the captain, all mates, the carpenter, and other sailors with designations that should have made them a strong force. If a group was to survive the ordeal, the Invercauld had all the right people to do it. However, what they lacked was proper leadership.
Island of the Lost can and should be used in the workplace as management training material, as a resource for universities, everywhere.
This story has such a compelling set of events and cast of characters, it should be made into a feature film. I believed this so wholeheartedly, I found myself casting characters as I read.
"My thoughts would not have been possible, however, if the author hadn’t portrayed the captain with as much realism as she did. She brought him and his crew to life in the environment around them."
For Captain Musgrave, the man of restrained gravitas, I cast Jaime Dornan. Most of you will know him as the billionaire from the 50 Shades of Gray movie trilogy. But it’s his character in the Netflix war drama The Siege of Jadotville that was the reference for my choice. My thoughts would not have been possible, however, if the author hadn’t portrayed the captain with as much realism as she did. She brought him and his crew to life in the environment around them.
Realism in Writing the Characters of Island of the Lost
When I’d sit down to read a few chapters, I left 21st-century America and found myself following closely behind the Grafton crew on their adventures and endeavors. I felt the cold when the season changed, I saw the gnarled branches that made up the bulk of arbors around them, I heard the sea lions as they bounced across the sand. Her use of descriptive sensory details was immaculate.
The second theme present in this book is the importance of working together to solve problems instead of for oneself. This book strips the characters down to the purest form of humanity. The crew of the Grafton quickly realizes that they are each other’s best hope for survival, not in a way that says each man can do for me, but the individuals react by doing the most of what they can for each man. It’s a raw form of Kennedy’s infamous line, “Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country.”
Druett beautifully connects each character to his brother, taking from their intimate journals and acting out scenes that made them closer. For example, their bible study with their captain at the head, how they identified their individual strengths and exchanged the knowledge of those skills with each other through class sessions, and how they picked up the slack for another who fell ill and took turns cooking meals.
They even formed a democracy within their unit, their captain wholly supporting their right to have a voice, even though he could have proceeded as a dictator. There was empathy, resilience, ingenuity, and dare I say it, love, between the crew of the Grafton. I especially enjoyed Raynal, who found endless methods for preservation and survival, creating goods from anything; a makeshift tanning station using raw materials, a shipyard, boots!
With the excellent portrayal of the era, Druett painted the setting in our minds. She drew the characters with her words, and she wrote them to life. If you haven’t read Island of the Lost: An Extraordinary Story of Survival at the Edge of the World, do so as soon as possible.
“Druett painted the setting in our minds. She drew the characters with her words, and she wrote them to life.” — Freya Larsen
About Joan Druett
Joan Druett Amazon Author Page
Joan Druett is an award-winning author and historian from New Zealand, who specializes in maritime history. Her fascination with maritime history began after discovering the grave of a whaler’s wife in 1984. Through the Fulbright fellowship, she began studying whaling wives in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and California. Her work highlighting the history of seafaring women was also recognized with an L. Byrne Waterman Award. Her books include Petticoat Whalers, In the Wake of Madness, She Was a Sister Sailor, Hen Frigates, Tupaia, and The Discovery of Tahiti. Use the links below to learn more about this author.
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