‘GHOST WOMAN’

I was most interested to read Gary Soto’s review of Lawrence Thornton’s novel “Ghost Woman” (July 19).

It’s one of a number of books that recall the so-called Lost Woman of San Nicolas Island--the name attributed in early journals to the Chumash Indian woman who lived on the island from 1835 to 1853.

She and her tribe were removed in 1835 by the missionaries of Santa Barbara, whose wish it was to bring them into the church. From the reports of Captain Hubbard, whose schooner effected the move, she apparently dove off the ship in order to rescue a brother or daughter who had inadvertently been left on the island. Apparently she remained there for some 18 years.

Over the ensuing years, ships passing the coast of San Nicolas reported sighting her. From records left by a Captain Nedever, who eventually removed her from the island, she was found clothed in a skirt of cormorant feathers.

Brought to the mainland, she died some years later. There is a theory that her death was caused by the richness of the mainland food, as opposed to the fish and shellfish to which she had become accustomed.

There is a further theory that a Father Gonzales of Santa Barbara Mission befriended her and learned that her brother had been killed on the island by wild dogs. She is buried on a hill near the Mission, and her skirt of cormorant feathers was sent to Rome.

From this sketchy history, Scott O’Dell wrote the landmark young-adult novel “Island of the Blue Dolphins,” which subsequently received the Newbery Award. His brilliant book, which has long been one of the best- selling Newberry Award novels (more than 5 million sold)--and which has been translated into virtually every language--is an exploration of what happened to her on San Nicolas during that 18-year period.

O’Dell, a California novelist who died in October, 1989, went on to write other novels of a California historic background. Two of them, “The King’s Fifth” and “The Black Pearl,” were also Newberry Award runner-ups.

In 1963 I made a film based on the first novel. Happily both the novel and the film continue to have an ongoing life.

ROBERT B. RADNITZ, CULVER CITY