The rongorongo, where it originated and what it means, still remains one of the great mysteries of Easter Island.
Acknowledgments
For their invaluable comments on this manuscript I would like to thank Dr. Margaret Davis, Dr. Sara Hotchkiss, and Dr. Patricia Sanford. Dr. John Flenley, whose work on the Easter Island pollen was the inspiration for Greer’s work, was of great assistance, as was his paper The Late Quaternary vegetational and climatic history of Easter Island. And a special thank-you to Dr. Georgia Lee, Easter Island expert, for lightning-speed answers to my endless questions.
Maururu to Maria Huke Rapahango and family for their great hospitality and kindness, and to Ramon Edmunds Pacomio, Rapa Nui guide peti etahi and friend.
For the time to write this book, I am deeply indebted to the James McCreight Fellowship at the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing and the Colgate University Creative Writing Fellowship. Particular thanks to Peter Balakian, Frederick Busch, Linck Johnson, Jesse Lee Kercheval, Leila Philip, and Ron Wallace.
I was blessed with several extraordinary teachers along the way: Robert Stone, Caroline Rody, Barry Hannah, Stuart Dybek, and Ethan Canin.
For friendship, feedback, patience, and all else: Emilie Baratta (who read this book more times than a friend should have to), Justin Cronin, Leila Hatch, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, and Richard Powers. For their perpetual good cheer, energy, and time: Margo Lipschultz, Patrick Merla, and Johanna Tani.
A million thanks to my spectacular editor, Susan Kamil. And thanks to Irwyn Applebaum, Nita Taublib, and the wonderful team at Bantam Dell.
And last, but far from least, this book would not exist without Maxine Groffsky, agent extraordinaire and so much more.
About the Author
Jennifer Vanderbesis a graduate of Yale University and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She was a James McCreight Fellow in Fiction at the University of Wisconsin, and most recently was the Fellow in Creative Writing at Colgate University.
EASTER ISLAND
A Dial Press Book / June 2003
Published by The Dial Press
A Division of Random House, Inc.
New York, New York
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved
Copyright © 2003 by Jennifer Vanderbes
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law.
The Dial Press is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc., and the colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Vanderbes, Jennifer.
Easter Island : a novel / Jennifer Vanderbes.
p. cm.
eISBN 0-440-33413-6
1. Easter island—Fiction. 2. Women—Easter Island—Fiction.
3. British—Easter Island—Fiction. 4. Americans—Easter
Island—Fiction. 5. Anthropologists’ spouses—Fiction. 6. Women
botanists—Fiction. I. Title
PS3622.A59 E27 2003
813'.6—dc21 2002031588
Published simultaneously in Canada
v1.0
Easter Island Page 36