The Blue Lagoon

What would it be like to come of age in an isolated corner of the South Pacific and experience the mysteries of adolescence without adult guidance? This is the question posed by Henry DeVere Stacpoole's 1903 novel The Blue Lagoon. Two children-Emmeline and Richard-are shipwrecked on an island paradise with only one adult survivor, a ship's cook (Leo McKern). But he soon dies and the children, alone and unadvised, must cope with the bewildering variety of physical and emotional changes attendant to growing up. They learn how to survive and even thrive in their island home, and as they reach adolescence, the two teenagers (Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins) fight and tease but ultimately embrace each other. A natural sensuality leads to love and a baffling pregnancy. But eventually they must confront danger as they venture beyond their island world.