Harald Steen is 64-years old when he leaves his old life behind. He boards a container ship and sets course for the legendary Galapagos island of Floreana to finally get to the bottom of his mysterious family history.
His time on the island gets off to a difficult start, with the inhabitants keeping a close eye on every step taken by the “scrawny German,” who is far too interested in the island’s dark history, stirring up trouble as a result. But it’s not only in the village that Steen encounters resistance. He is also pushed to his limits on his expeditions into Floreana’s fascinating and treacherous wilderness. Yet soon his exertions seem to pay off. For, with each additional day on the island, Steen not only gets closer to the tragic story of his family, which was involved in the mysterious Galapagos affair at the end of the 1920s, but gradually also begins to get a sense of the essence of this unreal place. And then there’s Mayra and the sudden intimation of happiness …
In The Third Source, Werner Köhler tells the story of a man who, late in his life, once again puts everything on the line, setting out in search of himself far from home.
