In Papua New Guinea

"Christina Dodwell, a young British explorer, sets out for unexplored jungles of New Guinea with little preparation --no map, no plan, no knowledge of the language or customs. This insouciant attitude often lands her in trouble.

"She forgets her jungle boots (not for the last time) and has to hike barefoot through knee-deep mud, thorns and leeches. The charm of this attitude is that it allows her to experience her adventures with childlike freshness, a naive imperturbability which she shares with the Stone Age people she finds along the way.

"`I realized there's little to fear in the world,' says Dodwell, and her story is extremely provocative. As we ask, exasperated, 'How could she!' we ask ourselves, wonderingly, 'Why shouldn't we?...' and are the richer for the self-questioning." --Donada Peters, the reader