By the mid-1800's, Fiji has become a melting pot of cannibals, warring native tribes, sailors, traders, prostitutes, escaped convicts and all manner of foreign undesirables. It's in this hostile environment an innocent young Englishwoman and a worldly American adventurer find themselves.

A rip-roaringly funny account of life in the farthest corners of the world, "Getting Stoned with Savages" again reveals the wry appreciation of the absurd and infectious joy of discovery that make Troost one of the most engaging and original travel writers around.

Like the Fijian island of Rotuma in which she was raised, Petera didn't quite fit in with her surroundings. She picked fights, stole food, rebuked priests and generally spoke her mind whenever possible. Determined, independent and, at times, downright intractable, Petera Veu lived life on her own terms.