Lucy Gladwell arrives in Mauritius expecting an idyllic escape from England, armed with romantic notions and Keatsian verse, only to discover an island paradise far more complex than she imagined. Ensconced in her aunt and uncle's grand plantation house with servants at her beck and call, she finds herself confronting the uncomfortable contradictions of colonial society that no amount of sea breezes can dispel. Romesh Gunesekera's novel explores the collision between youthful idealism and the troubling realities of imperial life, as Lucy navigates the beauty and otherness of this island caught between Africa and India.
