Tahiti - The Marriage Of Loti

A tale of amorous dalliance in Polynesia, this is the exotic romance par excellence. Set in Tahiti in 1872, it is an autobiographical novel that tells of the love affair between a beautiful island girl and the French naval officer who wrote under the name of Pierre Loti. It is a sensuous book, full of the stormy passions of young love, the adventure of being in a strange and mysterious country, the excitement of slipping away to tryst in secret glades, the bittersweet happiness of lovers who know they are fated to part. Containing some of the finest lyrical evocations of island life ever written, this is the book that fixed the romantic Polynesian idyll in the public imagination for all time.

Pierre Loti, perhaps the world's most prolific, romantic and exotic travel writer and novelist, was born as Julien Marie Viaud in Rochefort in Western France in 1850. A childhood fascination with exotic lands across the seas led him to embark on a naval career that enabled him to seek love and adventure in many latitudes. He drew on these real life experiences when writing the romantic novels and travel books that made him one of the most popular authors of his day. Although his prolific output brought him both fame and fortune he remained a romantic escapist and never gave up his beloved naval career. He retired from the French navy in 1910 and died in 1923.