Prisoners Of Paradise (Paratiisisaaren vanget)

Paasilinna reinvents the literary topos of a desert island in a way that only he can.

A plane on a UN mission is forced to perform an emergency landing on the Indonesian archipelago. Its passengers—made up of Swedish midwives, Finnish lumberjacks, and Norwegian doctors—decide to settle down and found a society based on maximising happiness. Could the fair distribution of wealth and justice, alongside liberation from civilised structures, actually work?

Challenges are presented by grating personalities and the presence of nationalism among the ranks. But when the opportunity for rescue presents itself, will the ‘prisoners of paradise’ decide to choose their new micro-nation over home?

Title: Prisoners Of Paradise (Paratiisisaaren vanget)
Published: 1974

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