In 1923, English adventurer RJ Fletcher left the New Hebridies (now Vanuatu), leaving behind the child he had with a Melanesian woman. Exhausted and penniless, he did not suspect that in another life, and under the pseudonym Asterix, he would be the author famous for writing scandalous letters portraying the New Hebridies as “islands of illusion”, more infernal than heavenly.
Nearly a century later, Pierre Furlan travelled to the island of Epi. Guided by the Fletcher’s Melanesian granddaughter, he puts together lively story about the famous author seen from a new perspective: that of the generation who experienced independence. The events recounted in this narrative are true, as are the letters of RJ Fletcher newly rediscovered and published here for the first time.
