The first American publication of a young English writer¹s widely admired account of traveling off the beaten path through the islands of the Caribbean.
Story of a British writer's visit to several Caribbean islands. Interaction with locals becomes personal enough that this book could be considered almost as much memoir as travel genre.
My only experience in the Caribbean was a trip to Jamaica many decades ago. At that time it was easy to escape the resort and see "real" people. I was able to visit a farm in the interior of the island and went birdwatching with another woman. We met a lot of nice people that way. I was bored silly at the resort. It was interesting to read about all the small islands visited by Ms. Stewart although she spent a lot of time having sex with attractive men. I agree with her disdain for the huge cruise ships and all inclusive resorts, though.
Strangely I loved this book - it really resonated with my experience of spending time tramping around the Caribbean, crewing for various yachts and jumping from one boat to another, racing at the regattas around the islands as they came up. Happy, sad, lonely, exciting and confusing times. I can imagine the tourist industry and political establishment hating this account of their territories but if you step outside the all inclusive resorts, thats where the interesting stuff lives.