Serpent in Paradise: Among the People of the Bounty

The lore surrounding the HMS Bounty in 1789 has spawned more than 200 books and at least five movies. Rather than rehashing the conflict between Lieutenant William Bligh and mutiny leader Fletcher Christian, British writer Birkett (Spinsters Abroad: Victorian Lady Explorers) trains her eye on the present inhabitants of Pitcairn Island, the isolated paradise where Christian's renegade band settled and where most of the 38 residents at the time of Birkett's writing are descendants of the mutineers. The author, who lived with a Pitcairn family, makes anthropological observations common to travel journals, but she often overstates her case. The publisher hypes the claim that until Birkett's arrival no one has ""trespassed"" on the island until now. In fact, many outsiders have been to Pitcairn--several were living there when Birkett arrived--not the least of which have been the Seventh Day Adventist missionaries who settled there in 1886. Birkett tells her story with the self-effacing skill of a good dinner guest, but island life does seem dull, and one begins to imagine that the original tale behind Pitcairn--even after 200 tellings--might not be the better story after all. (Oct.)