On a wet winter's day, who hasn't day-dreamed of packing it all in and going to live in a tropical paradise? Hunter Davies has written an armchair travel book (with lovely photographs) about his visits to 10 West Indian islands, including Mustique, Barbados, Tobago and Cuba, in which he tracked down people who have done just that (not many in Cuba, as you can imagine). He also talked to JCBs (Just Come Backs, the Grenada term for recently returned emigrants), many of them children of the West Indians who sailed to Britain in the 1950s and 1960s. An enjoyable read for anyone interested in how people adapt to unfamiliar cultures and lifestyles, Davies's wanderings are more about the people he seeks out than the islands themselves - although the magic of the Caribbean shines through. His conclusion on the existence of the tropical dream: like any dream, it comes true for some.
