Book Release: The Secret Life of James Cook by Graeme Lay

MEDIA RELEASE

The Secret Life of James Cook

A NOVEL

by Graeme Lay

Historians have long pondered on the personal nature of the famous navigator, Captain James Cook, but for two and a half centuries he has remained something of an enigma.

That Cook was a talented surveyor who rose up the ranks of the British Navy through talent alone in a time when family standing and money were the usual keys to advancement, is remarkable. He was ahead of his time in many ways, particularly in his treatment of the indigenous people in new lands, but was not afraid to deal out harsh punishment when he judged that it was necessary.

Was his intensive search for a cure to scurvy solely because he cared for his crew’s wellbeing? Or was he driven solely by personal ambition to claim new lands for Britain in the great Southern Ocean?

We will never really know who the true James Cook was, in part due to his equally remarkable and enigmatic wife Elizabeth, who destroyed all his letters towards the end of her long life. It was this piece of information that prompted Auckland novelist Graeme Lay to fill in the gaps imaginatively and so recreate the story of a relationship that spanned almost 20 years, thousands of sea miles and no doubt immense loneliness, in his intriguing new novel, The Secret Life of James Cook.

In Lay’s novel, each night on the ship after Cook has written his rather dry official log for the Admiralty, he writes a very private letter to his wife. These letters are filled with colourful accounts of the days on board the Endeavour, the explorations and surveys of the lands the expedition encountered, observations and stories about his crew and the people on board the ship — stories the Admiralty will never get to read because each night James locks this unauthorised journal away, to hand to Elizabeth when he finally reaches home after four years away.

Through the letters and the stories in between, Lay brings to life the assortment of crew and gentlemen on board the Endeavour during Cook’s first circumnavigation. There’s the sober, diligent James, sharing confined spaces for years with the flamboyant, upper-class naturalist Joseph Banks (who boarded days late with two greyhounds and a pair of Negro servants); the talented young Scottish artist Sydney Parkinson, who would become a like a foster son to Cook during the voyage, the proud Tahitian priest Tupaia, and many more.

Drawing deeply on his personal knowledge of the South Pacific and Australasia, Lay takes the reader on a new voyage of discovery alongside the great navigator, providing a fascinating re-assessment of the remarkable James Cook and his relationships with his colleagues and his wife.

Graeme Lay is a full-time writer and editor. He has published short stories, fiction for adults and young adults and collections of travel writing. He has a deep interest in the history and cultures of the South Pacific islands.

Imprint: Fourth Estate | Format: TPB, RRP: $36.99, ISBN: 9781775540120| Book and E-Book available from 3 May 2013

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