Madman's Island

Madman's Island is a 1927 novel by Ion Idriess set in northern Australia. It was Idriess' first novel and was semi-autobiographical, although he invented the love interest at the insistence of the publisher.^[1]

Plot

Jack Burnett decides to go prospecting on an uninhabited island in the Barrier Reef with a friend. The friend goes mad and tries to kill Jack. Jack discovers some opium stashed away by Japanese smugglers. Jack is rescued and sells the opium to a Chinese merchant in Cooktown. In Cairns, Jack runs into the Japanese smugglers, but manages to escape with the help of a woman who he has fallen in love with.^[2]

Background

The book was based on a true incident that happened to Idriess. In 1923 he was marooned on Howick Island in Queensland with a friend he had gone prospecting with. The friend had a war injury which sent him mad and he tried to kill Idriess.^[3]

Idriess kept a diary of his time on the island and used it as the basis for the book. He sold it to a publisher in 1925.^[1][4][5]

Idriess fictionalised the story, including a sub plot about opium smuggling.

Reception

The book was not received particularly well.^[6][7]

1938 Edition

Idriess rewrote the book after he had achieved acclaim with his other writings. He removed the fictional elements and instead did is as a memoir. It was republished in 1938 and was a large success, selling 70,000 copies.^{[1][8][9][10][11]}

References