In Search of the Lost: The Modern Martyrs of Melanesia [Paperback]

This compelling account of recent armed conflict on Gaudalcanal in the Solomon Islands and a religious order's response is told through eyewitness accounts and the diary of Br Richard Carter of the Melanesian Brotherhood.

Some sections are harrowing and heartbreaking: a group of villagers are forced to participate in, even applaud the execution of two of their beloved sons at the hands of rebels. We also confront the vulnerability of children as some are drawn into taking up arms. There is a confused and twisted morality at play in the armed rebels and their paranoid leader which in a fictional setting would seem laughable. Yet this is real, one knows it costs dearly, and it is more likely to prompt tears. Carter's use of verbatim dialogue and his immediate reflections in journal style make the story current and participatory. We are led beyond the narrative to a deeper and sometimes disturbing consideration: how does one act responsibly when natural tendencies towards a just society are subverted?

This book is more than the anatomy of a civil conflict on exotic, foreign shores. Its primary focus is to commemorate the lives of seven Christian peacemakers who become modern day martyrs for their faith. In its telling the story uncovers questions many readers may wish to leave buried. When we see this peaceable island people suddenly caught up in a demoralising conflict where love and trust quickly disintegrate into fear and violence, can we imagine such capabilities within ourselves or our own country? The author's journal accounts frankly reveal how the infectious nature of mass suspicion and paranoia shake his own generally secure faith and well being.

Everyday life in the UK discourages the impulse toward caring for one's neighbour. Ambiguous police warnings against vigilantism, child protection legislation, health and safety rules and other less formal restrictions meant to help us, sadly also require us to think twice before we "get involved." Even as we may witness an elderly person attacked in any high street or council estate, walking away becomes more and more an acceptable option. With such cultural aversion to self-sacrifice, can we any longer see moral value in laying down one's life for one's friends? In his thoughtful narrative where there is no walking away, Carter makes a clear case for radical concern and action for those around us, and in the Solomons.

The book is unmistakeably Christian in witness. It is prefaced with a fresh and accessible history of the first Christian martyr in Melanesia, Bp John Coleridge Patteson, and it beautifully portrays a contemporary Melanesian Brotherhood who hold nothing back in living out their faith in love: caring for one another, negotiating for peace, entering dangerous situations with little thought for personal safety. For Christians, this book offers a challenge to discern an authentic and courageous peoclamation of the Gospel. For all, it provokes a reflection on our personal respoonsibility for those in our midst (and far away) who require our sacrificial love.

I'm not one for effusive superlatives but I was blown away by this book.

Richard has a great gift for writing and this combined with an informed passion born of hard earned experience and wholesale commitment makes for a most powerful book. Richard is/was in a unique position to write such a book and he has delivered on the opportunity only he could have availed himself of.

The book comes across as being very honest and appropriately questioning whilst still undoubtedly committed to and supportive of the Melanesian Brotherhood.

NB I was a colleague of Richard's when we were both teaching at Selwyn College, Solomon Islands, prior to his involvement with the Melanesian Brotherhood. I am of a more spiritual nature rather than a person of religious convictions yet the book still resonates powerfully for me.

A friend from work gave me a copy of this book and said it would change my life. She was right - this is an amazing story of faith, courage and bravery. Richard's own courage and convincement shine through the pages. I defy anyone to read this and not be profoundly moved.