A beautifully written account of Paul Gauguin's life with all its heartaches, joys, disappointments and fleeting moments of pure happiness in Tahiti and the Marquesas. It is a highly emotional account of his struggle with his estranged wife and children, his drinking, his complicated personal and sexual life and relationships and finally his delight at the simple life of the Polynesian people, who he supported and suffered for it and how their language and culture was systematically suppressed.