Beyond Sunrise

Think "The African Queen" meets "Romancing the Stone"—only better.

The South Pacific, 1883: India McKnight grew up in a dour Edinburgh vicarage, dreaming of adventure and exotic, faraway lands. Now an accomplished and stubbornly independent travel writer, she has sailed to the tropical island of Takaku on a fact-finding expedition for her next book. But the indomitable Scotswoman's life takes an unexpectedly fateful turn when she hires a renegade named Jack Ryder as her guide.

A fugitive wanted for a tragic incident in his past, Jack is a hard-drinking, foul-mouthed Australian who long ago rejected the strict world of Victorian mores. But when the two wind up running for their lives from both native cannibals and the determinedly vengeful British Navy, the result is a rollicking South Seas adventure that is alternately pulse-pounding, heartwarming, and funny.