First published 1999
Charlotte Lewes arrives in colonial Rangoon in 1917, running from the wreckage of her war-widowed life in Britain. The tropical heat and exotic surroundings awaken something in the young schoolteacher she thought had died with her husband. She meets John Dollar, a sailor whose intensity matches her own reawakened desires. Their love affair unfolds against the backdrop of the rigid British colonial community until a pleasure cruise turns catastrophic. An earthquake triggers a massive tidal wave that hurls Charlotte, John, and eight of her young female students onto an uninhabited island. Stripped of civilization's comforts, the small group faces the brutal mathematics of survival. The girls look to John Dollar for salvation, but their desperate need begins to crush him under its weight. As resources dwindle and hope fades, the bonds between them twist into something darker. The island becomes a theater where human nature reveals itself without mercy or pretense.
Genres: romance, historical-fiction, 20th-century, adventure
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Rangoon, Britain, Uninhabited Island
Period: 1917
224 pages · Paperback · Simon & Schuster
Content warnings: death, violence