by Ann Schlee
First published 2014
Flo steps off the plane into the stifling heat of Aderra, a small British Protectorate where her stepfather Harry oversees the transition to local rule. Her mother Lydia has grand plans for the summer. She wants to recreate her own glorious youth in Nairobi through her sheltered daughter. At the Villa della Pace, European society carries on with tennis parties and social rituals as if the world outside doesn't exist. Only King George VI's death disrupts their calendar. Lydia arranges Flo's social debut and even selects a suitable man. But beneath Flo's quiet exterior burns an intensity that Lydia never suspects. As the summer unfolds, Flo's presence ignites desires and deceptions that threaten to shatter the community's polished facade. The handover to indigenous rule looms while personal dramas play out in drawing rooms and gardens, revealing how much can change in just a few stifling months.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, british-literature, africa
Vibes: emotional, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Aderra, Nairobi, Villa della Pace
Period: 1950s
230 pages · Paperback · Policy Press