This year is the 40th anniversary of Paul Theroux’s The Mosquito Coast, in which a disillusioned American inventor moves his family from Massachusetts to the eponymous Mosquito Coast of Honduras. Teenage narrator Charlie and the rest of the Fox family follow Allie on a perilous trek deep into the jungle, away from Western influence and technology. The Mosquito Coast won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and in 1986 was adapted into a film directed by Peter Weir, starring Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren, Andre Gregory and River Phoenix. Apple TV+ recently released a trailer for a new series based on The Mosquito Coast, with Justin Theroux, Paul's nephew, executive producing and starring alongside Melissa George, Logan Polish and Gabriel Bateman. It will premiere with the first two episodes on April 30 followed by new episodes every Friday.
Paul Theroux wrote several other novels, including Jungle Lovers (1971), which was banned in Malawi for many years, before turning to travel writing. Theroux's travelogues include The Great Railway Bazaar, The Old Patagonian Express, The Kingdom by the Sea, The Happy Isles of Oceania, Riding the Iron Rooster and more. His most recent book, a novel about an aging big-wave surfer called Under the Wave at Waimea (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), will be released April 13. The Mosquito Coast is available in paperback from Mariner Books ($15.95). --Tobias Mutter