Sammy is an island boy. His early childhood is idyllic, spent on Cyprus with parents who have normal working lives during the week but are glamorous hippies at weekends. Then Sammy is traumatised by 2 tragedies that change him for ever. His island life ends when he is sent to school in England and he finds temporary joy only when he visits Sansobella, in the West Indies, as a teenager.
The story seems to meander through Sammy's life, following him through school, adolescence, a rather dissolute early adulthood and yet another tragedy. Sounds like one of those endless sob stories, doesn't it? Oddly, it doesn't read like that. We learn about Sammy slowly, rather like watching a flower unfurl in slow motion.
The ending, however, is a little puzzling given the way the story begins but I won't say more for fear of spoiling it for future readers. Recommended? Definitely, but don't expect action, mayhem or thriller stuff. This is humanity and the human heart.
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