I'm fascinated by real life examples of small populations living on isolated islands, but have never encountered a fiction book that quite scratches that itch. I would also love suggestions about groups of people being trapped/isolated on islands or planets and have to figure out how to live, survive, build community, etc. I've read Semiosis by Sue Burke, for example. I've also already read Lord of the flies.
by Wecontainmultitudes2
18 Comments
Galapagos by Vonnegut.
Integral Trees by Larry Niven.
Freedom’s Landing by Anne McCaffrey. She’s got several series about settling planets, but this one might be closest to what you describe, with a small community just getting started.
Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson starts with a small group of scientists preparing Mars for settlement.
Two Old Women by Velma Wallis. This is a small tribal, nomadic community in the Arctic.
Jared diamond wrote a really interesting essay that was reprinted in his book *The Third Chimpanzee*.
Diamond, Jared. “Ten Thousand Years of Solitude.” *Discover* 14, no. 3 (March 1993): 62–69.
It’s about the geographic and genetic isolation of the island of Tasmania for about 10,000 years. The people who had originally settled there were separated from the Australian mainland, and there were a lot of interesting results, including the loss of some technology. He talks about some other Pacific islands that were isolated for different reasons and eventually the population died out.
Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon (this is a joke… but it is revealed that >!the natives on the planet are descended from beings who crash landed and were never able to leave.!<)
The Wayfinder by Adam Johnson tells a story set in the islands of the South Pacific where certain island populations dont have things that they have on other islands or miss the events of the larger islands
Isola by Allegra Goodman
Hawaii by James Michener
Shroud, The Light Eaters or Alien Clay
C. J. Cherryh’s Foreigner series series
There was also a book about ten years ago that was a retelling of one of John M. Synge’s plays about the Aran Islands.
California by Lupecki
This is a theme in several of Kim Stanley Robinson’s novels, especially *Red Mars* and its sequels but also *Aurora* and to a certain extent *Antarctica*.
I think I’d go with Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Time which features some of what you’re asking for. Though, of course, The Martian Chronicles would work as well. Both are great books
The island by Victoria haslop may scratch this itch. It’s about a leper colony on an island off of Crete. Some of the story is also set on the adjoining Cretan village but a decent chunk is set on the island
The first few chapters of Hawaii by James Michener
Captives War by James SA Corey takes place in the universe of the Expanse after the gates close.
The Unseen by Roy Jacobsen!
Nation by Terry Pratchett covers some of this ground at least.