Rowan Metcalfe: Transit of Venus

Reviewed by SUSAN JACOBS

There is poignancy in the author's dedication of her book to the descendants of the Bounty, including her father and children.

Sadly, Rowan Metcalfe did not live to see her "meditation on my ancestors" published. However, it gives a telling indication of the nature of this vibrant, passionate yet ultimately unwieldy text.

We all know the bones of this exotic slice of South Pacific history. After setting the tyrannical Captain Bligh adrift on the high seas, Fletcher Christian and his mutineers landed in Tahiti before setting sail again, with a few Tahitians, to uninhabited Pitcairn Island to escape the harsh claws of British justice. The families that still live there today are descended from those British sailors and the women who accompanied them.

But who were these Tahitian women? Why did they leave their homeland? Through their eyes Metcalfe imagines and explores the impact of this cross-cultural encounter, centring the story around tall, slender Mauatua, who became Isabella, Fletcher Christian's consort.

We first meet her as a girl entranced by the visits of Tute, or Captain Cook, and his strange gifts. What is beautifully conveyed is the islanders' astonishment that a horse in England could pull people along "in a rolling canoe" and how the "tattooed leaves" of their Bible contained the white man's gods.

The many characters are rendered with wit and compassion but lack depth. Their historical authenticity seems more important than their reasons for acting as they do. Likewise, many pages are captivating for their sheer vitality of description and emotional intensity, yet at times such exuberance drowns the engine of story.

Despite this, my curiosity was aroused. It was unclear why the community on Pitcairn succumbed to murder and mayhem and eventually turned to fervent Christianity. Once I had found the information to stitch up the gaps I began to marvel.

Transforming history into fiction is a risky act of imaginative power. Metcalfe's effort is ambitious and gutsy, if not entirely successful.

* Susan Jacobs is the author of Fighting With the Enemy: New Zealand POWs and the Italian Resistance

* Huia, $31.95