5 h 47 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 5 h 47 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A pearl promises a family a home, but who gets to decide what their treasure is worth?
In South Sea Tales, Jack London gathers eight adventures across a Pacific shaped by storms, trade, and colonial power. In The House of Mapuhi, an islander wants a house for his family in exchange for a valuable pearl. The traders have other ideas. In The Whale Tooth, a missionary in Fiji faces a dangerous meeting of religious conviction and local custom.
Mauki follows an islander through the brutality of plantation labor, while The Heathen centers on Otoo and a white trader whose friendship begins in disaster. The Terrible Solomons and The Inevitable White Man challenge assumptions of white superiority. In The Seed of McCoy, burning cargo threatens a ship, and a calm guide brings knowledge that courage alone cannot supply.
What you’ll discover
- A pearl with stakes Follow Mapuhi’s hope for a family home into a struggle over value and power.
- Loyalty born of danger Meet Otoo, whose intelligence and practical courage give a lasting friendship its strength.
- The cost of command See how trade, weapons, and forced labor shape encounters between island communities and outsiders.
- Confidence meets its limits Watch claims of superiority collide with dangers that demand understanding rather than boasts.
- Judgment under pressure Step aboard a threatened ship where McCoy’s steady guidance matters as much as endurance.
Who will love it
Readers who love sea stories, island adventure and short tales with strong plots will find plenty here, along with sharp characters and a vivid feel for the tropical Pacific.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A perfect pearl sets a family dreaming
- A missionary's faith meets a chief's whale tooth
- A chief's son fights his way toward home
- A drunken trader rules five thousand islanders
- Two survivors share a hatch cover and a name
- An eager tourist gets a rough education
- A stupid sailor with one great skill
- A burning ship needs a gentle pilot
- Trade, fear and power drive every tale
Who’s who
- MapuhiA Paumotan pearl diver who finds a perfect pearl and wants only one thing for it, a house with a clock.
- MaukiA small, sweet-faced chief's son from Malaita, bound to the plantations by debt, who longs to get home and has a cunning mind.
- OtooA strong, gentle sailor from Bora Bora who becomes the narrator's partner, guardian and adviser across seventeen years in the Pacific.
- McCoyThe soft-voiced governor of Pitcairn, descended from a Bounty mutineer, who offers to pilot a burning ship to safety.
- Bertie ArkwrightA fine-looking, nervous tourist who wants to see the wild Solomons and is given more of them than he expects.
- John StarhurstA calm, practical Fiji missionary who is certain he must carry the gospel into the cannibal mountains.
- McAllisterA tiny, whisky-soaked Scotsman who rules the five thousand people of Oolong Atoll and baffles a visiting narrator.
- Captain MaluA shriveled, hard-eyed island magnate who owns vessels and plantations and arranges a rough education for Bertie Arkwright.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 5 h 47 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 8 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Contes des mers du Sud
by Jack London · 1911
Mapuhi asks for a house in exchange for his pearl as traders land and the barometer falls.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
What would you give for a pearl the size of a pigeon's egg? Traders, missionaries, pearl buyers and island chiefs scheme, fight and bargain across the tropical Pacific.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A perfect pearl sets a family dreaming
The House of Mapuhi opens on Hikueru, a ring of coral sand in the Paumotus, where the diver Mapuhi has found a flawless pearl as big as a pigeon's egg. He will not take money for it. He wants a house on Fakarava, six fathoms long, with a porch all around, four iron beds, a sewing machine and an octagon-drop-clock on the wall.
Alexandre Raoul, a young supercargo for his mother's schooners, is unsure how to price the pearl and refuses the demand. While he argues, the one-armed islander Huru-Huru sells the news of the pearl to every trader who lands, each time asking for tobacco. Toriki and Levy arrive, and the pearl changes hands at a rising price. Meanwhile the barometer starts to fall.
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What is South Sea Tales about?
It is a collection of eight stories set in the Pacific, in the Paumotus, Fiji, the Solomons and Samoa. They deal with pearls, hurricanes, missionaries, plantation labor, traders and shipwrecks, and with the struggle for power between islanders and outsiders.
Which stories are in South Sea Tales?
The eight tales are The House of Mapuhi, The Whale Tooth, Mauki, Yah! Yah! Yah!, The Heathen, The Terrible Solomons, The Inevitable White Man and The Seed of McCoy. Each can be read on its own.
What is a tambo in the story Mauki?
Tambo is the Melanesian word for taboo. Mauki has three: he must never touch a woman's hand, never eat clams or food cooked where clams were, and never touch a crocodile or travel with any part of one.
The author
Jack London
1876–1916 · American novelist and journalist
Jack London (1876–1916) was an American author, journalist and social activist. He was born in San Francisco and lived in California. He wrote novels, short stories and essays. His novels include The Call of the Wild (1903), The Sea-Wolf (1904), White Fang (1906) and Martin Eden (1909). He died in California.
More by Jack London
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