William Maier was a USMC officer who served in the South Pacific during World War II, rising to the rank of Major by 1945. His book was a mixed genre effort, often pastoral in tone, and largely dealt with the protagonist's efforts to prevent disruption to the indigenous way of life on the half of the island he owned. Louella Parsons revealed in her syndicated newspaper column that the movie rights to the book had been purchased by Harry Cohn for Columbia Studios three months before it's publication.