I felt such immense sorrow when I finished reading this delightful and utterly entertaining novel. It has everything I need in it: a narrator that I adored, clever and fast-witted women, a battle of the sexes, and a tropical background. There are biblical references and considerations throughout, such as a delicious mockery of the Catholic church, alongside damnations of misogynist attitudes, and the law system. What more could I ask for? A love story? There is more than one. Redemption? Arranged. Also, this decidedly women’s chronicle uses deftly handled droll irony to ensure the feminist compass does not waver within its movements.

Set on a tropical island in the 1950s, the story centres on Mrs Gulliver (literary references intended) who runs an exclusive brothel and a new woman she employs, Carita: beautiful, intelligent (wily, even), and blind since birth. Carita falls in love with Ian, a young man from established wealth who is determined to save her from prostitution. His father, (dashing) Mike is the island’s judge. But then, Mrs Gulliver meets the judge, and the story continues. A murder happens. A romance transpires. Surely, it is all about holding one’s nerve.

Valerie Martin is an established author and her previous work, Property, was a winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction. This is the first of her works that I have read, and I am delighted there is her backlist to address. Readers of Ann Patchett and Evelyn Waugh will relish this novel. It is beautifully structured; a considered and engaging story that allows dignity and grace to all its characters, despite their follies. Oh, for us all, I wish this. And a drink of Bloody Mary. Once you have read it, you will understand my yearning.