First published 2014
Four-year-old Sally decides she wants to be called Clover and falls in love with her best friend James on Grand Cayman Island. Her parents Amanda and David raise their children in the tight community of expatriates, where island life feels perfect for families but suffocating for adults. As Clover's feelings for James deepen, Amanda discovers she no longer loves David and finds herself drawn to another man. Clover watches James pull away from her, and when they leave for separate boarding schools in England and Scotland, she fears she has lost him forever. At university, Clover rarely sees James but carries him in her heart. She struggles between moving forward with her life and clinging to feelings she cannot abandon. Amanda faces her own crossroads as she follows her heart down an uncertain path. McCall Smith weaves together two generations of romantic choices, exploring how love reshapes lives in unexpected ways.
Genres: romance, literary-fiction, contemporary-romance, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: England, Grand Cayman Island, Scotland
Period: 21st-century
316 pages · Hardcover · Pantheon