Untouched by the ravages of war and the politically volatile atmosphere, the Villa della Pace remains an island of European society in the tiny British Protectorate of Aderra. Its circle religiously maintain their rigid social calendar and allow nothing, save the death of King George VI, to interfere with their pleasures. But the flawless surface of their lives conceals a turmoil of deception and desire . . . Flo has just left school in England and is flying out to spend the summer with her mother Lydia, and step-father Harry, who, as head of the British Administration, must oversee the forthcoming handover to indigenous rule. Lydia is determined that this year Flo will have the summer of her life, just as she herself did years earlier in Nairobi. And believing she can relive her youth through unworldly Flo, Lydia devises a plan for her daughter's social debut - even providing a man. But she little suspects the intensity of emotion behind Flo's quiet facade, nor the irrevocable impact her presence will have on the whole community over those few stifling months . . . A powerful and beautifully written novel by Ann Schlee at her very best.

The islands lay low an dark in the sea that had claimed the lives of Adela Traherne's parents. Known to the islanders as the Island Child, her life became inextricably linked with Augustus Walmer, the Proprietor, in the summer of 1840 when a group of his friends came to see how he was restoring the economy and well-being of his people and the untamed beauty of the islands he owned. None of the people who came together in that summer was ever to forget what happened then, none of them was ever to break free from the islands grip, and the destinies of Adela and Augustus seemed fated to be forever linked. 'Ambitious, imaginative . . . The Proprietor more than a little resembles The French Lieutenant's Woman, with a dash of Jamaica Inn and an occasional nod in the direction of The Waves.' Anita Brookner, Harpers & Queen 'Outstanding success . . . elegant precision and feeling for period . . . attractive echoes of Charlotte Bronte and Elizabeth Bowen.' Hermione Lee, Observer 'Rare and strange . . . rich in detail and steeped in the author's sense of the period and place about which she writes, it establishes Ann Schlee as one of the best novelists we have.' Susan Hill 'Rare and impressive . . . the kind of novel which makes the prospect of a second reading a pleasure to be savoured.' Books and Bookmen

Paul has committed an act of vandalism. He set fire to the sports centre. Tomorrow he will see men re-constructing a building and wonder why. He will not remember that he had anything to do with its destruction - no one will.

Untouched by the ravages of war and the politically volatile atmosphere, the Villa della Pace remains an island of European society in the tiny British Protectorate of Aderra. Its circle religiously maintain their rigid social calendar and allow nothing, save the death of King George VI, to interfere with their pleasures. But the flawless surface of their lives conceals a turmoil of deception and desire . . . Flo has just left school in England and is flying out to spend the summer with her mother Lydia, and step-father Harry, who, as head of the British Administration, must oversee the forthcoming handover to indigenous rule. Lydia is determined that this year Flo will have the summer of her life, just as she herself did years earlier in Nairobi. And believing she can relive her youth through unworldly Flo, Lydia devises a plan for her daughter's social debut - even providing a man. But she little suspects the intensity of emotion behind Flo's quiet facade, nor the irrevocable impact her presence will have on the whole community over those few stifling months . . . A powerful and beautifully written novel by Ann Schlee at her very best.