Typee

Two sailors slip away from a whaling ship on Nuku Hiva and head into the mountains. They mean to put as much distance as they can between themselves and their captain. But the crossing leaves Tommo barely able to walk, and he and his shipmate Toby descend into the valley of the very people they had hoped to avoid.

The Taipi give the sailors food and shelter, and Tommo comes to enjoy a life far removed from the work and discipline of the ship. He grows attached to Fayaway and takes pleasure in the routines of the valley. Yet his injured leg keeps him dependent on his hosts, and their hospitality leaves one question unanswered. If he decides to go, will they let him?

Drawing on his own desertion from a whaler in 1842, Herman Melville made his first book a South Seas adventure told by a man who is often unsure how to read the people around him. Tommo has heard frightening stories about the valley. He also sees enough kindness there to question what Europeans and Americans mean when they call themselves civilized. The longer he stays, the harder it becomes to separate what he knows from what he fears.

That uncertainty gives Typee its suspense. A man who risked his life to get away from a ship must now decide whether to trust the people who took him in or risk another escape.