Summer, 1946. When Boston reporter Jerry Canavan is sent down to cover the Newport Bermuda yacht race, the trip feels more like a reunion than an assignment. He stays at the luxurious home of Cam McShane, a classmate from Boston College, and runs into his childhood friend Paul Crump, who is an MP at the U.S. Army base.

For the three young veterans, Bermuda is like a tropical paradise. Cam hangs around the bars at night, socializing with other ex-pats and planning to start a business. Paul patrols downtown Hamilton and dreams of falling in love. With the war finally over, everyone wants to start living again, and the sailboat race is a symbol of the island's future and the return of tourism.

Jerry tries to stay focused on his work until he meets Gabrielle, a beautiful and mysterious French girl who lives next door. But romance isn't his only distraction because before the yachts even cross the finish line, the lives of his friends have started to unravel. Cam's drunken philandering has a much darker side, and Paul's relationship with a local black girl causes a scandal.

As Jerry's time grows short, he learns a shocking truth about Gabrielle's family. Only then does he realize that Bermuda is not all sunshine and Rum Swizzles. People may have flocked there to forget the past, but the war and its consequences are something no one can escape.

Author Bio:

Jonathan Cullen grew up in Boston and attended public schools. After a brief career as a bicycle messenger, he graduated from Boston College with a B.A. in English Literature (1995). During his twenties, he wrote two unpublished novels, taught high-school in Ireland, lived in Mexico, worked as a prison librarian, and spent a month in Kenya, Africa before finally settling down three blocks from where he grew up.

He currently lives in Boston (West Roxbury) with his wife Heidi and daughter Maeve.