On a Greek island, a 1950s English traveller meets an elderly resident Frenchwoman. She tells him the story of her youth on a Caribbean island, Saint Jacques. This dazzlingly tale of an exotic and decadent society of French aristocrats and 'natives' ends with the catastrophe that befalls the island during the annual Mardi Gras ball. The world the narrator knew is brought to an abrupt end, leaving us to bewail its loss.
(Wendy Swann - bwl 25 August 2004 ) |
