''Islands of Angry Ghosts'' is a 1966 book by Australian journalist and writer
Hugh Edwards. The book is split into two parts: the first reconstructs the wreck and subsequent horrors, including mutiny, murder, rape and cannibalism, associated with the wreck of the Dutch East India Company's ''
Batavia
Batavia may refer to:
Historical places
* Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands
* Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...
'' of the Western Coast of Australia; and the second follows the search for the wreck and salvage of the wreck by Edwards and a crew of divers.
The book is one of the more famous retellings of the wreck and subsequent mutiny alongside works like
Henrietta Drake-Brockman
Henrietta Drake-Brockman (27 July 1901 – 8 March 1968) was an Australian journalist and novelist.
Early life
Henrietta Frances York Jull was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1901 to public service commissioner Martin Edward Jull (1862–19 ...
's ''
Voyage to Disaster'' and
Max Cramer's ''
Tragedies and Triumphs of the Batavia Coast''. The book describes the "stark details of the months the survivors spent on the barren island."
At the time, the book was well received, earning the
Sir Thomas White Memorial Prize for the best work published by an Australian in 1966.
Kirkus reviews called the book a "great relish", writing that readers are "certain to finish" it. A new edition of the book was released in 2000.
Adaptation
A one-year option for adapting the book into a film was purchased by
Russell Crowe's
production company
A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and v ...
"Fear of God" in 2016.
Author of the popular historical text ''Batavia'',
Peter FitzSimons
Peter John Allen FitzSimons (born 29 June 1961) is an Australian author, journalist, and radio and television presenter. He is a former national representative rugby union player and has been the chair of the Australian Republic Movement sin ...
also hinted at negotiating rights for his work at a separate event.
The purchase of adaptation rights followed an attempt to do a film about the ''Batavia'' wreck in 2008, which failed after initial auditions because of lack of funding.
See also
*
List of works about the Dutch East India Company
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
References
{{Reflist
Batavia (1628 ship)
Books about Western Australia
Australian non-fiction books
1966 non-fiction books
History books about the Dutch Empire
Works about the Dutch East India Company