"Deep in the Polynesian islands of the Pacific Ocean, hungry spirits circle the homes of writer Robert Louis Stevenson and artist Paul Gauguin who lived and died on the islands only a few years apart. Stevenson has spent thirty years in rigorous combat with the Grim Reaper, but is he finally ready to concede defeat? Gauguin has bought rum, arsenic and morphine for his suicide cocktail and is certain he'll be damned if they give him a Catholic burial in consecrated ground. As their final hours approach, they face the eternal question: is it how we prepare for death that really governs the way we live?"--Back cover.