WOMAN ABOARD

Mrs. Stevenson (a novelist of middle years), her husband (an educational psychologist) and two other men made a 10,000 mile trip by water with stopoffs in the Marquesas, the ""dangerous"" islands--the Tuamotus, on to the Hawaiian Islands and back to their point of origin, Los Angeles. This is her record thereof from the actual sailing of the K-43 sloop (she was not a scullery maid and took her turn at the wheel) and the irritations (temperamental and otherwise) which accelerated on the way home. Most of the book deals with her commentary on the island stops, from the Marquesas with their dying culture and their fear of the dead rather than death itself, on--with people, customs, education, social functions and food providing a generally informative travelogue. All told in a pleasant, not too differentiated, manner with occasional recipes throughout--either more sturdy or exotic than pilot biscuits.