How hard is life in paradise?
No cars, to TV, no jails, no tourists – the tiny nation of Tokelau in the South Pacific is still a paradise. For seven months, a locum doctor’s family from Germany moves to an atoll with only 500 people: Atafu, one of the most isolated places in the world. The boat from Samoa only comes every fortnight.
The doctor, Frank Küppers, the author and his wife, Anke Richter, and their four-year-old son Jasper experience an idyllic and simple communal life. But immersing themselves into Polynesian culture with its strict Christian rules is a challenge. The journalist cannot ignore corporal punishment and teenage suicide. She gets involved and thus breaks some of the unwritten rules of their Tokelauan hosts.
TV Interviews
- Anke Richter bei Johannes B. Kerner ueber 200 Tage in Tokelau
- Anke Richter bei Drei nach Neun ueber ihr Buch 200 Tage in Tokelau
“Anke Richter describes her life on the atoll so well that the reader wishes to live there too for a while and dance, cook and celebrate with the locals. Tokelau, the country that no-one knows, grows on you with every page.”
taz
“Glimpses into a life where everything is shared and even going to the communal toilets above the lagoon becomes an event.”
Der Spiegel
“Anke Richter recounts her time on the tropical island so enticingly and with humour and precision, and she portraits the islanders in a nuanced way. The reader regrets that after seven months, it’s time to leave again for the island doctor’s family.”
Süddeutsche Zeitung
