Son of a Norwegian master-mariner and grandson of Kaloni, the last of the great Polynesian navigators, Gunnar Thorkild is consumed by a dream. Convinced that the Polynesians' legendary Island of the Dead is real, he risks his career, his life—and those of his fellow adventurers—to find it.
Shipwrecked on the very island they seek, the castaways are forced to leave behind everything they know and rely upon. To survive in this lush tropical paradise, they must make new laws of power and property, of sex and marriage. The Navigator is a story of exploration, cultural clashes, and the enduring power of the human spirit.