Words leave imprints in your mind like footprints in the sand...
WW1: A journey and exploration into the various types of people who drifted about post WWI in the dying British Empire. Different historical figures pop up in the book: George Bernard Shaw, Agatha Christie, and a deposed Austro-Hungarian Emperor.
A disillusioned soldier looks for love. An exiled Emperor fears assassination. Agatha Christie takes a holiday. And George Bernard Shaw learns to tango.
It’s the aftermath of World War I, and Michael Pinfold, a disillusioned ex-soldier is trying to rescue his failing family wine business on the island of Madeira.
Meanwhile in the hills the exiled Austrian Emperor lives in fear of assassination by Hungarian killers.
In a hotel, a certain female crime novelist is stranded on her way to South Africa
George Bernard Shaw at the same time is writing and learning to tango with the hotel manager’s wife
And that’s not all..
The setting is Madeira but the backdrop is an enjoyable and rather farcical at times, journey through historical figures and a range of stories and characters. It reads more like historical fiction in parts too around the dying British Empire and the backdrop of war. The characters are the ones to watch and it’s fascinating to see such historical and well known characters in the same place – rather like a set piece.
The main interest of the novel for us was these figures which arrive on Madeira at the ‘The Kildonian Castle’ and the locals who are already there. The stage is set for a dramatic turn of events.
