Teenage Maya is in trouble. She's an alcoholic, an addict and deeply involved with a criminal gang. How did it all go so wrong? Abandoned by her parents as a baby, Maya has been brought up by her tough grandmother Nini and her gentle grandfather Popo. At school though, teenage Maya finds herself drawn towards the wrong crowd. Before she knows what's happened, Maya's life has turned into one of drug addiction and crime. Things go from bad to worse as Maya disappears into the criminal underworld. To save her from her old associates, Nini sends Maya to a remote island off the coast of Chile. Here she lives among a traditional rural people, the Chilote, who have remained untouched by the materialism of the modern world. Basking in the warmth of the Chiloe community, Maya feels compelled to write her story and slowly she begins to heal. But can she move beyond her pain, find forgiveness and learn to live with the scars of the past?

Drawing on his deep knowledge of the South Pacific and Australasia, novelist Graeme Lay recreates the peerless navigator’s life up to, and including, his first circumnavigation of the world. In particular, Graeme imagines the relationship between James and his equally remarkable wife, Elizabeth, the woman he married when he was 34 and she 21, and by whom he had six children, all born while he was away at sea. The Secret Life of James Cook also depicts an often stormy relationship between Cook and the dashing and privileged naturalist, Joseph Banks, who accompanied Cook on his first world voyage.

A unique blend of a compelling story with insights into writing from a prize-winning author...some of us are not satisfied with that one life, even if it is shared with many friends and relatives. Writers take what we learn of human nature and, fuelled by our longings for other existences and other times, forge new identities that can be as real as she is, sitting with her dog on the weathered step of the old house, stories that move us to tears or laughter. Merle is the author of five novels, a sixth languishing while she teaches Creative Writing. As she mentors the assorted ambitions of her hopeful students, observes the romantic adventures of her colleague, and witnesses the hours filled by her husband and their mysterious German lodger, she both imparts and demonstrates how to write a novel. This unique book is immensely satisfying as both love story and writing manual. Written by a prize-winning author, who is also an experienced teacher, the overarching intelligence, compassion and wicked humour are a joy to read.