'Since I lost the baby, you and I have been so close together that we have been almost a single person'

Janet Alexander returning by sea to the Caribbean with her husband 'Twice' finds their domestic harmony threatened by the emotional problems of the two young people aboard.

Ashore at St Jago the shipboard characters find themselves at the centre of a fast-thickening plot, with Friends old and new joining in against the colourful background of Carnival and sugar-harvest, regattas and plantation life.

And on land or sea is Cousin Emmie herself, dominating the scene in her shapeless dresses with her voracious appetite and her uncanny ability to get at the heart of a problem.