By the Sea

"Every man wants Marilyn but no one wants me," sobbed Miss Monroe sadly in young Pablo's head. Grandfather, however, knew that what every man wants is just a woman-preferably one in every port. But for Pablo this was a time when he was confused, by the tangle of contrasts between men and women, in the youthful turmoil of his emotions. This entertaining novel lands the reader on a Caribbean beach on tiny Caye Caulker, off Belize in 1952. The first-person narrator begins his tale with a shot of rum, in a sandy beach-bar, and an old manuscript, "By the sea", which unexpectedly arrives on his table. The charming novel - about life, and of love, even for all those who are not fishermen - took this reviewer on a delightful Caribbean reading adventure which considers the whole point of men and women.