Book description
How does a young City lawyer end up as the People's Lawyer of the
fourth-smallest country in the world, 18,000 kilometres from home?
We've all thought about getting off the treadmill, turning life on
its head and doing something worthwhile. Philip Ells dreamed of
turquoise seas, sandy beaches and palm trees, and he found these in
the tiny Pacific island state of Tuvalu. But neither his Voluntary
Service Overseas briefing pack nor his legal training could prepare
him for what happened there.
He learned to deal with rapes, murders, incest, the unforgivable
crime of pig theft and to look a shark in the eye. But he never dared
ask the octogenarian Tuvaluan chief why he sat immobilised by a
massive rock permanently resting on his groin. Well, you wouldn't,
would you?
This is the story of a UK lawyer colliding with a Pacific island
culture. The fallout is moving, dramatic, bewildering and often hilarious.
Philip Ells now lives back in London and remains a lawyer and writer
