Publisher's Synopsis
A heartwarming, and heartbreaking, multi-generational novel from the bestselling author Alexander McCall Smith--a tale of unrequited love, and the unexpected places it takes us.
This love story begins on a small Caribbean island, Grand Cayman, with 2 people who meet as children, and over 20 years and 4 continents will fall in love. At age 6 Clover falls in love, although she doesn't know it as such until years later, with her best friend, James. He doesn't seem to reciprocate her feelings, but he does enjoy being her friend. She and James happily spend all their time together--until the year that their game of "spy" inadvertently catches her mother and his father in a clandestine conversation. While Clover and James enjoy their freedom, we meet her mother, Amanda, who is surprised to suddenly realize one day that she has fallen out of love with her husband, and she is trapped in her marriage. Amanda is then equally surprised to learn that George, James's father, is also unhappily married--and is interested in her. The adults and the children must navigate their way through the complicated, confusing maze of love and desire in Alexander McCall Smith's beautiful and lyrical tale about the many kinds of love--first love, unrequited love, true love--that's sure to be embraced by readers of all generations.
