The Blue Lagoon: A Romance

Summary (from the publisher): The Blue Lagoon is the story of two cousins, Dicky and Emmeline Lestrange, stranded on a remote island with a beautiful lagoon. As children, they are cared for by Paddy Button, a portly sailor who drinks himself to death after only two and a half years in paradise. Frightened and confused by the man's gruesome corpse, the children flee to another part of Palm Tree Island. Over a period of five years, they grow up and eventually fall in love. Sex and birth are as mysterious to them as death, but they manage to copulate instinctively and conceive a child. The birth is especially remarkable: fifteen-year-old Emmeline, alone in the jungle, loses consciousness and awakes to find a baby boy on the ground near her. Naming the boy Hannah (an example of Stacpoole's penchant for gender reversals), the Lestranges live in familial bliss until they are unexpectedly expelled from their tropical Eden.

Review: I have long had an obsession with the 1980 (Brooke Shields) version of this movie. I will stop whatever I'm doing if The Blue Lagoon is on tv - including schoolwork, chores, a run, etc. I had no idea that this novel was such a hit in its time and has been made into not one but three different movie versions following its publication in 1908. It is the story of two cousins that are stranded on an island and discover death, sex, and love by experiencing it. The story has clear Adam and Eve connections, as well as subtle references to Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. I love Emmeline and Richard's story. Yay for free ebooks.

Stars: 3