Destination: Fiji

LONELY PLANET'S OFFICIAL GUIDEBOOK INFORMATION

Travel Literature

Sticking your head in a good book is a great way to get a feel for Fiji. Your local bookshop or library is best placed to advise you on the availability of the following recommendations. Many of the books listed below can also be ordered online through the USP Book Centre. Other books can be purchased at the Fiji Museum in Suva.

On Fiji Islands by Ronald Wright is an oldie but a goody. It’s a great read to get your head around the history, culture and flavour of the country, complimented by personal anecdotes of the author’s travels.

Also good for a beautifully humanistic impression of the country is Footprints in Fiji by Geoff Raymond – an endearing and humorous memoir of an Australian family that moved to Fiji in the mid-80s to run a resort abandoned by its previous owners.

The Heart’s Wild Surf by Stephanie Johnson is a bodice ripper set in 1918 about a colonial family on Taveuni coping with the cultural and social differences of their surrounding environment.

Kava in the Blood by Peter Thomson is a strong, evocative autobiography of a white Fijian who became a senior civil servant and was imprisoned by Rabuka during the 1987 coup.

Happy Isles of Oceania by Paul Theroux is an account of this legendary travel writer’s journey through the Pacific in a collapsible kayak. He provides a frank personal impression of the politics, culture and aesthetics of the countries he visits.

Two excellent photographic books are Children of the Sun by Glen Craig, which gets under the skin of the country by capturing its diverse population, and Fiji: The Uncharted Sea by Federico Busonero, which is a visual celebration of the archipelago’s exquisite marine life and beaches.

Travelling to Fiji?
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