A Washington Post and Christian
Science Monitor "Best Book of the Year"

In this extraordinary fiction debut -- rich with love and betrayal, history and
intellectual passion -- two remarkable narratives converge on Easter Island,
one of the most remote places in the world.
It is 1913. Elsa Pendleton travels from England to Easter Island with her
husband, an anthropologist sent by the Royal Geographical Society to study
the colossal moai statues, and her younger sister. What begins as familial
duty for Elsa becomes a grand adventure;  on Easter Island she discovers
her true calling.  But, out of contact with the outside world, she is unaware that
World War I has been declared and that a German naval squadron, fleeing
the British across the South Pacific, is heading toward the island she now
considers home.  Sixty years later, Dr. Greer Farraday, an American botanist,
travels to Easter Island to research the island's ancient pollen, but more
important, to put back the pieces of her life after the death of her husband.
 A series of brilliant revelations brings to life the parallel quests of these two
intrepid young women as they delve into the centuries-old mysteries of Easter
Island.  Slowly unearthing the island's haunting past, they are forced to
confront turbulent discoveries about themselves and the people they love,
changing their lives forever.  

A "rich and worldly first novel. Bottom line: Glorious."
-People Magazine, Critic's Choice

"One of those rare novels that appeals equally to mind, heart and soul."
--San Francisco Chronicle

"Utterly captivating....One of the best novels of the year." - Robert Stone

*Translated into 16 Languages*